Blade and image forming apparatus incorporating same

A multilayered blade made of an elastic material, the blade comprising:

• an edge layer having a contact edge to contact an object;
• a first backup layer laminated on the edge layer;
• and
• a second backup layer laminated on the first backup layer,
• the blade having a converted loss tangent tan δ of 0.23 or greater and 0.51 or smaller in a temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C., the converted loss tangent tan δ defined as:
• X
• =
• A
• A
• +
• B
• ×
• L
• 1
• +
• X
• B
• ,
• and
• X
• B
• =
• B
• 1
• A
• +
• B
• ×
• L
• B
• 
• 
• 1
• +
• B
• 2
• A
• +
• B
• ×
• L
• B
• 
• 
• 2
• where X represents the converted loss tangent tan δ, A represents a thickness in millimeters of the edge layer, B1 represents a thicknesses in millimeters of the first backup layer, B2 represents a thickness in millimeters of the second backup layer, L1 represents a variation of a loss tangent tan δ of the edge layer in the temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C., LB1 represents a variations of a loss tangent tan δ of the first backup layer in the temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C., and LB2 represents a variations of a loss tangent tan δ of the second backup layer in the temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C.

An elastic blade comprising:

• an edge region having a contact edge to contact an object;
• and
• an adjacent region disposed adjacent to the edge region on a cross section perpendicular to a direction in which the contact edge extends,
• the blade having a converted loss tangent tan δ of 0.23 or greater and 0.51 or smaller in a temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C., the converted loss tangent tan δ defined as:
• X
• =
• S
• A
• S
• A
• +
• S
• B
• ×
• L
• 1
• +
• S
• B
• S
• A
• +
• S
• B
• ×
• L
• 2
• ,
• where X represents the converted loss tangent tan δ, SA represents a cross-sectional area in square millimeters of the edge region, SB represents a cross-sectional area in square millimeters of the adjoining region, L1 represents a variation of a loss tangent tan δ of the edge region in the temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C., and L2 represents a variation of a loss tangent tan δ of the adjoining region in the temperature range of from 0° C. to 50° C.