US Patent 7662530 Image forming apparatus and image forming method

Provided is an image forming apparatus containing a latent electrostatic image bearing member, a latent electrostatic image forming unit configured to form a latent electrostatic image on the latent electrostatic image bearing member, a developing unit configured to develop the latent electrostatic image using a toner to form a toner image, and a transferring unit configured to transfer the toner image on a recording medium, wherein a surface of the toner is coated with an external additive containing fine particles having an average particle diameter Da of 100 nm to 300 nm, and a value obtained by dividing an average F of non-electrostatic adhesion between the toner and the latent electrostatic image bearing member by a product of volume average particle diameter of the toner Dt and average particle diameter of the external additive Da, [F/(Dt×Da)] is 7.5×104 N/m2 or less.