Patent ID: 6915100

Claim:
An image forming process comprising the step of: fixing a toner onto an electrophotographic image-receiving sheet with the use of a belt fixing and smoothing device, the toner containing a wax and a binder; the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet having at least one toner-image-receiving layer containing a wax and a binder; the belt fixing and smoothing device comprising: a heating and pressuring member, a belt member, a cooling device, and a cooling and separating unit, wherein the belt fixing and smoothing device, the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet, and the toner satisfy the following conditions represented by Expressions (I), (II), and (III): Temp1>Temp2>Temp3>(Temp 4−20° C.) (I) Temp1>Temp5>Temp6>(Temp 4−20° C.) (II) |Temp2−Temp5|≦10° C. (III) wherein Temp1 is a roller temperature (° C.) of the belt fixing and smoothing device in heating and image-fixing; Temp2 is a melting point (° C.) of the wax in the toner; Temp3 is a glass transition point (° C.) of the binder in the toner; Temp4 is a temperature (° C.) at which the belt member is released; Temp5 is a melting point (° C.) of the wax in the toner-image-receiving layer of the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet; and Temp6 is a glass transition point (° C.) of the binder in the toner-image-receiving layer of the electrophotographic image-receiving sheet.