Cleaning blade, image forming apparatus, and process cartridge

A reed-shaped elastic cleaning blade, comprising:

• an edge, movable along the surface of a member to be cleaned while contacting the edge to the surface thereof to remove a powder therefrom,
• a distal face, extending perpendicular to a thickness direction of the blade, defined along one side by the edge of the blade;
• a proximal face, extending parallel to the thickness direction of the blade, defined along one side by the edge of the blade;
• and
• surface layers having a hardness greater than a hardness of the elastic blade, formed on the distal and proximal faces of the blade,
• wherein a friction coefficient between the surface layer on the distal face of the blade and the member to be cleaned is lower than that between the surface layer on the proximal face of the blade and the member to be cleaned.