Patent ID: 8828475

Claim:
An image forming method, comprising: applying a zinc-containing metal soap to a surface of an intermediate transfer belt that already has nitrogen on said surface thereof to satisfy the following formulae: (1 −C/D )×100(%)−( B/A )×100(%)≦10(%) ( B/A )×100(%)≦30(%) (1 −C/D )×100(%)≦30(%) wherein A (% by atom) and B (% by atom) represent a percentage content of nitrogen at the surface of the intermediate transfer belt before and after image formation on 1,000 sheets, respectively, measured by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), C (% by atom) represents a percentage content of zinc at the surface of the intermediate transfer belt after the image formation on 1,000 sheets, measured by XPS, and D (% by atom) represents a percentage content of zinc based on all elements other than hydrogen in the zinc-containing metal soap before the image formation on 1,000 sheets; and utilizing the intermediate transfer belt, to which the zinc-containing metal soap has been applied, in an image forming operation in an image forming apparatus or an intermediate transfer device, wherein the zinc-containing metal soap is applied to the intermediate transfer belt upstream from a primary transfer position where a toner image is to be transferred from a photoreceptor onto the intermediate transfer belt and downstream from a secondary transfer position where the toner image is to be transferred from the intermediate transfer belt onto an image recording medium, the zinc-containing metal soap is a mixture of zinc stearate and zinc palmitate, and a mixing ratio of the zinc stearate to the zinc palmitate is from 73/27 to 45/55.