Image fixing apparatus, and, image forming apparatus having the same, and image forming process

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• a photoconductor,
• a latent electrostatic image forming unit configured to form a
• latent
• electrostatic image on the photoconductor,
• a developing unit configured to develop the latent electrostatic image using a toner to form a visible image,
• a transferring unit configured to transfer the visible image onto a recording medium, and
• a fixing unit configured to fix the transferred image on the recording medium,
• wherein the fixing unit comprises
• a heater having a heat source to generate heat,
• a fixing belt configured to be moved in a direction to which a recording medium is transported in a state of coming into contact with the heater, and
• a pressing portion configured to press the transported recording medium with a toner image carried thereon on an area of the fixing belt which comes into contact with the heater,
• wherein the contact surface of the heater which comes into contact with the fixing belt has a smoothly formed convex toward the side which comes into contact with the fixing belt with a curvature radius of 200 mm to 100,000 mm, and
• wherein an amount of contact time between the fixing belt and the recording medium is 20 msec. or more.

An image forming process comprising

• forming a latent electrostatic image on a photoconductor,
• developing the latent electrostatic image using a toner to form a visible image,
• transferring the visible image on a recording medium, and
• fixing the transferred image on the recording medium,
• wherein the fixing is performed using an image fixing apparatus
• which comprises
• a heater having a heat source to generate heat,
• a fixing belt configured to be moved in a direction to which a recording medium is transported in a state of coming into contact with the heater, and
• a pressing portion configured to press the transported recording medium with a toner image carried thereon on an area of the fixing belt which comes into contact with the heater,
• wherein the contact surface of the heater which comes into contact with the fixing belt has a smoothly formed convex toward the side which comes into contact with the fixing belt with a curvature radius of 200 mm to 100,000 mm, and
• wherein an amount of contact time between the fixing belt and the recording medium is 20 msec. or more.