Patent ID: 6980763

Claim:
An image fixing and smoothing process comprising the steps of: with a belt fixing and smoothing apparatus, fixing a toner image formed on an image bearing surface of an electrophotographic image-receiving sheet, smoothing the toner image, and releasing the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet bearing the toner image to thereby produce an electrophotographic print, wherein the belt fixing and smoothing apparatus comprises: a hot-pressing member comprising a heating roller and a pressure roller, a belt member, a cooling device, and a cooling-releasing section, wherein the heating roller and the pressure roller are disposed to thereby form a nip therebetween and are configured to control the amount of curling C (mm) of the electrophotographic print such that it satisfies the following condition: −0.10 L≦C ≦+0.05 L wherein L is a length (mm) of a short side of the electrophotographic print; a negative value (−) of the amount of curling C means that the electrophotographic print curls so that its surface opposite to the image-bearing surface is inside; and a positive value (+) of the amount of curling C means that the electrophotographic print curls so that its image-bearing surface is inside.