Patent ID: 6865366

Claim:
A fixing apparatus comprising: (a) a fixing roller; (b) a fixing belt which is brought into pressure contact with the fixing roller so as to form a nip; (c) a heat source for heating at least one of the fixing roller and the fixing belt, wherein a recording medium carrying an unfixed toner image passes through the nip so as to fix the toner image; and (d) a flattener provided downstream of the nip in a conveying direction of the recording medium for correcting a curl of the recording medium which has passed through the nip, wherein the flattener comprises a conveyance roller and a pressure contact member that is in pressure contact with the conveyance roller, wherein a surface layer of the conveyance roller and a surface layer of the pressure contact member are made of fluorine resin, and wherein a temperature of a second nip formed between the conveyance roller and the pressure contact member exceeds a glass transition point of the toner; wherein the nip formed by the fixing roller and the fixing belt and the second nip formed by the conveyance roller and the pressure contact member both have a convex shape and are arranged to be convex toward opposite directions with respect to each other, when viewed from a direction perpendicular to the conveying direction of the recording medium.