Image forming method having transfer temperature difference and apparatus for the same

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a first image carrier on which a toner image is to be formed in accordance with image data;
• a second image carrier contacting said first image carrier and to which the toner image is to be transferred from said first image carrier;
• and
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image from said first image carrier to said second image carrier and for transferring the toner image carried on at least one of said first image carrier and said second image carrier to a recording medium, which is conveyed to a nip between said first image carrier and said second image carrier;
• wherein said image transferring means comprises thermal image transferring means and comprises temperature control means for heating said image transferring means during image transfer from said first image carrier and said second image carrier to the recording medium more than during image transfer from said first image carrier to said second image carrier.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a first image carrier on which a toner image is to be formed in accordance with image data;
• a second image carrier contacting said first image carrier and to which the toner image is to be transferred from said first image carrier;
• and
• image transferring means for transferring the toner image from said first image carrier to said second image carrier and for transferring the toner image carried on at least one of said first image carrier and said second image carrier to a recording medium, which is conveyed to a nip between said first image carrier and said second image carrier;
• wherein said image transferring means comprises thermal image transferring means and comprises a temperature control mechanism, wherein said second image carrier has greater surface roughness than said first image carrier.