Image forming apparatus and process cartridge including a cleaning blade with a coating layer

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image bearer;
• a charger to charge a surface of the image bearer;
• an irradiator to irradiate the surface of the image bearer charged to form a latent electrostatic image;
• a developer to develop the latent electrostatic image to form a toner image;
• a transferer to transfer the toner image to a recording medium;
• a fixer to fix the toner image transferred to the recording medium;
• and
• a cleaning device comprising:
• a cleaning blade comprising:
• an elastic cleaning blade substrate comprising:
• a front end portion;
• a front edge ridge part;
• an undersurface;
• an edge layer;
• and
• a coating layer disposed on the front end portion, the coating layer being in contact with the surface of the image bearer to clean the surface of the image bearer;
• and
• a cleaning blade supporting member to support the elastic cleaning blade substrate,
• wherein a maximum penetration depth hmax of an indenter of a microhardness tester is between 4.0 μm and 10.0 μm at a position 100 μm inward from the front edge ridge part on the undersurface of the elastic cleaning blade substrate as measured according to a nanoindentation hardness test in accordance with ISO 14577 and pressing the indenter under a load of 1,000 μN over 10 seconds, holding the load for 5 seconds, and then releasing the load over 10 seconds at the same loading rate such that the hmax is defined as the depth of the indenter immediately after the 5-second holding period.