Patent ID: 7150954

Claim:
A toner, comprising: a binder resin, a wax, and a colorant, wherein said toner is capable of being used in an image forming method which comprises developing an electrostatic latent image with said toner to form a developed toner image, transferring said developed toner image to a sheet to form a toner image-bearing sheet, and passing said toner image-bearing sheet through a nip defined between two rollers including a heater roller to fix the toner image on said sheet, wherein said toner image on said sheet before the passage through said nip has a toner volume V 1 and a toner image area S 1 , wherein said toner image after the passage through said nip has a toner volume V 2 and a toner image area S 2 , and wherein a volume change Vt and an area change St defined by the formulas shown below are 30% or less and 20% or less, respectively: Vt (%)=( V 1 − V 2 )/ V 1 ×100 St (%)=( S 2 − S 1 )/ S 1 ×100 wherein V 1 , V 2 , S 1 and S 2 are as defined above; wherein said toner has a melt viscosity η 100 at 100° C. and a melt viscosity η 120 at 120° C. and wherein the ratio η 100 /η 120 of the viscosity of the toner at 100° C. to the viscosity of the toner at 120° C. ranges from 6 to 10; and wherein the melt viscosity η 100 at 100° C. is in the range of 1×10 5 to 4×10 5 Pa·s and the melt viscosity η 120 at 120° C. is in the range of 1×10 4 to 4×10 5 Pa·s.