Image forming apparatus including diamond-like or amorphous structure containing hydrogen surface protection layer

Abstract

An image forming apparatus including an image carrier including a conductive support, at least a photoconductive layer formed on the conductive support, and a surface protection layer formed on the photoconductive layer and including a charge injection layer. Also included is a charge member for charging the image carrier in contact with the surface protection layer when applied with a voltage. Further, the surface protection layer has a diamond-like structure or an amorphous structure containing hydrogen with a volume resistance of 109 Ω·cm to 1012 Ω·cm and a Knoop hardness of 400 Kg/mm2 or greater, and the charging member includes magnetic particles for charging having a mean particle size ranging from 20 μm to 150 μm. Also, a light transmission of the surface protective layer is 50% or more of a wavelength of light used for exposing the image carrier.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.