Image forming method and image forming apparatus for transforming a toner image into a semi-film

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image carrier;
• a toner image forming unit configured to form a toner image on the image carrier and including:
• a latent image carrier,
• a latent image forming unit configured to form a latent image on a latent image carrier,
• a developing unit configured to develop the latent image formed on the latent image carrier into the toner image, and
• a primary transfer unit configured to transfer the toner image from the latent image carrier onto the image carrier;
• a transfer unit configured to:
• be used as a toner image transforming unit configured to transform the toner image as formed on the image carrier into a semi-film by applying a transforming pressure to the toner image by keeping a pressure between the image carrier and the recording medium at a level equal to or higher than a level at which a toner of the toner image is plastically deformed and equal to or lower than a level at which the toner image is transformed into a film, and
• transfer the toner image from the image carrier onto a recording medium,
• wherein the primary transfer unit is configured to electrostatically transfer the toner image from the latent image carrier onto the image carrier by generating an electrical field between the latent image carrier and the image carrier, while keeping a pressure between the latent image carrier and the image carrier at a level equal to or lower than the level at which the toner is plastically deformed, and
• wherein the transfer unit is configured to electrostatically transfer the toner image from the image carrier onto the recording medium by generating an electrical field between the image carrier and the recording medium.

An image forming apparatus comprising:

• an image carrier;
• a toner image forming unit configured to form a toner image on the image carrier and comprising:
• a latent image carrier,
• a latent image forming unit configured to form a latent image on a latent image carrier,
• a developing unit configured to develop the latent image formed on the latent image carrier into the toner image, and
• a primary transfer unit configured to transfer the toner image from the latent image carrier onto the image carrier;
• a toner image transforming unit configured to transform the toner image as formed on the image carrier into a semi-film by applying a transforming pressure to the toner image;
• and
• a transfer unit configured to transfer the toner image from the image carrier to a recording medium;
• wherein the primary transfer unit is configured to electrostatically transfer the toner image from the latent image carrier to the image carrier by generating an electrical field between the latent image carrier and the image carrier, while keeping a pressure between the latent image carrier and the image carrier at a level equal to or lower than a level at which a toner of the toner image is plastically deformed,
• wherein the transfer unit is configured to be used as the toner image transforming unit that transforms the toner image into a semi-film by keeping a pressure between the image carrier and the recording medium at the transforming pressure, and to electrostatically transfer the toner image from the image carrier onto the recording medium by generating an electrical field between the image carrier and the recording medium, and
• wherein the transforming pressure is kept at a level equal to or higher than the level at which the toner is plastically deformed and equal to or lower than a level at which the toner image is transformed into a film.