Resin-coated carrier, two-component developer and image forming method

The two-component developer, comprising:

• a toner and a resin-coated carrier, wherein
• the resin-coated carrier comprises carrier core particles and 0.01-2.0 wt. % based on the carrier core particles of a resin coating layer coating the carrier core particles,
• the carrier core particles comprise a ferrite component represented by formula (I) below:
• (Fe2O3)a(MnO)b(MgO)c(A)d (I),
• wherein A represents a mixture of SrO, CaO and Al2O3, and a, b, c and d are numbers representing mol fractions of associated components and satisfying:
• 0.4<a<0.6, 0.35<b<0.45, 0.07<c<0.12, 0.005<d<0.015, and a+b+c+d≦1, and
• the resin-coated carrier has an average particle size of 25-55 μm.

An image forming method, comprising:

• a latent image forming step of forming an electrostatic latent image on an image-bearing member, and
• a developing step of forming a layer of a two-component developer comprising a toner and a resin-coated carrier on a developer-carrying member, carrying and conveying the two-component developer together with the developer-carrying member to a developing region where the developer-carrying member is opposite to the image-bearing member, and developing the latent image on the image-bearing member with the toner in the two-component developer carried on the developer-carrying member in the developing region;
• wherein
• the resin-coated carrier comprises carrier core particles and 0.01-2.0 wt. % based on the carrier core particles of a resin coating layer coating the carrier core particles, wherein
• the carrier core particles comprise a ferrite component represented by formula (I) below:
• (Fe2O3)a(MnO)b(MgO)c(A)d (I),
• wherein A represents a mixture of SrO, CaO and Al2O3, and a, b, c and d are numbers representing mol fractions of associated components and satisfying;
• 0.4<a<0.6, 0.35<b<0.45, 0.07<c<0.12, 0.005<d<0.015, and a+b+c+d≦1, and
• the resin-coated carrier has an average particle size of 25-55 μm.