An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transfer body, a pair of transport members, and first and second guide members. The first and second guide members each have an upstream portion with respect to the transport direction that is cantilevered between the contact area of the transfer body and the image carrier, and the transport members. The first guide member guides the non-transfer surface of plain paper such that the plain paper contacts the image carrier upstream of the contact area with respect to the transport direction, and guides the non-transfer surface of heavy paper while being pressed by the non-transfer surface and elastically deformed to the transfer body side. The second guide member guides the transfer surface of plain paper while being elastically deformed to the image carrier side, and guides the transfer surface of heavy paper while being elastically returned to the transfer body side.

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit configured to transfer second charged images superposed with one another onto a holding surface of a recording medium on which at least one first charged image has been electrostatically held and a static eliminating unit disposed upstream from the transfer unit in a transport direction of the recording medium and configured to remove static electricity from the recording medium electrostatically holding the at least one first charged image.

An image forming apparatus includes a transfer unit configured to transfer second charged images superposed with one another onto a holding surface of a recording medium on which at least one first charged image has been electrostatically held and a static eliminating unit disposed upstream from the transfer unit in a transport direction of the recording medium and configured to remove static electricity from the recording medium electrostatically holding the at least one first charged image.

An image forming method for forming an image on a base material by using powder includes: attaching a protective material to a surface of the base material on which the image is to be formed; forming an attachment layer on at least one of the base material and the protective material attached to the base material; attaching the powder to the attachment layer after attaching the protective material; and removing excess powder attached to the protective material from the protective material without attaching to the attachment layer.

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier that holds an electrostatic latent image and a toner image while rotating, a charger that charges the image carrier, an exposure unit that radiates light onto the image carrier to form an electrostatic latent image, a developing unit that develops the electrostatic latent image with toner, a transfer unit that transfers a toner image onto a sheet, a fixing unit that fixes the toner image onto the sheet, a charging-bias power supply that applies charging bias to the charger, a transfer-bias power supply that applies reverse transfer bias to the transfer unit, and a controller that causes the charging-bias power supply to apply the charging bias to the charger, the transfer-bias power supply to apply the reverse transfer bias to the transfer unit, and the exposure unit to radiate the light onto a region of the image carrier.

Provided is an image forming apparatus including an image forming unit that forms an image on a recording medium, and an applying unit that causes powder included in a liquid mixture to be interposed between the recording medium and the image forming unit by applying the liquid mixture to the recording medium, or to the image forming unit which comes into contact with the recording medium, wherein the recording medium includes an image forming layer, an adhesive layer, and a base layer, and the liquid mixture includes the powder reducing adhesion of the adhesive layer and volatile liquid.

An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, a transfer body, a pair of transport members, and first and second guide members. The first and second guide members each have an upstream portion with respect to the transport direction that is cantilevered between the contact area of the transfer body and the image carrier, and the transport members. The first guide member guides the non-transfer surface of plain paper such that the plain paper contacts the image carrier upstream of the contact area with respect to the transport direction, and guides the non-transfer surface of heavy paper while being pressed by the non-transfer surface and elastically deformed to the transfer body side. The second guide member guides the transfer surface of plain paper while being elastically deformed to the image carrier side, and guides the transfer surface of heavy paper while being elastically returned to the transfer body side.

An image forming apparatus includes an image bearing member, a transfer member, a first applying portion for applying a transfer bias to the transfer member, a recording material charging member for electrically charge a toner image transfer surface to an opposite polarity to a normal charge polarity of toner, a second applying portion for applying a recording material charging bias to the recording material charging member, a detecting portion for detecting a current flowing through the transfer member and a voltage applied to the transfer member, and a controller for controlling the recording material charging bias on the basis of a detection result by the detecting portion when a charging region of the recording material charged by the recording material charging member passes through a transfer portion.