Patent ID: 7560209

Claim:
An electrophotographic image forming apparatus, comprising: an electrophotographic photoreceptor; an image forming section for forming a toner image on a surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor; an intermediate transfer member; a first transferring section for transferring the toner image formed on the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor to a surface of the intermediate transfer member; a second transferring section for transferring the toner image transferred on the surface the intermediate transfer member to a recording medium; and a lubricant supplying section to supply lubricant onto the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor; wherein the electrophotographic photoreceptor comprises a surface layer forming the surface thereof and containing particles having a number average primary particle diameter of 1 to 300 nm, the particles include at least inorganic particles and organic particles and the surface of the electrophotographic photoreceptor has a hardness of 200 to 350 N/mm 2 in universal hardness which is lower than the hardness in universal hardness of the surface of the intermediate transfer member.