Patent ID: 8559837

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image heating member configured to heat an image formed on each of a plurality of first recording materials and a second recording material, the second recording material having a thickness greater than the first recording materials; a pressing member configured to form a nip, between itself and said image heating member, in which each recording material is to be nipped and conveyed; and an executing portion configured to execute different image heating conditions during the heating of the first recording materials when the image formed on the first recording materials is to be subsequently formed on the second recording material, wherein the executing portion is also configured to execute an operation in a first mode in which the image formed on each of the plurality of the first recording materials is heated under a first image heating condition and an operation in a second mode in which the image formed on the second recording material is heated under a second image heating condition, wherein when the images are formed in the first mode and subsequently the image is formed in the second mode, a switching operation is carried out in which the first recording material is heated under a third image heating condition different from the first image heating condition, said switching operation being started before finishing the operation in the first mode so that the heating of images on the first recording materials is performed under different image heating conditions when the image formed on the first recording materials is to be subsequently formed on the second recording material, and wherein the first and third image heating conditions comprise a sheet passing speed of the first recording material, and wherein the sheet passing speed of the third condition is higher than the sheet passing speed of the first condition, so that the sheet passing speed of the first recording materials in the first mode is increased when the image formed on the first recording materials is to be subsequently formed on the second recording material.