Patent ID: 7585606

Claim:
A developing method comprising the steps of: carrying a one-component developer contained in a developer container onto a developer carrying member in the form of a layer; conveying the developer layer by the developer carrying member to a developing region opposed to an electrostatic latent image carrying member; and forming a toner image with the conveyed developer layer by developing an electrostatic latent image carried on the electrostatic latent image carrying member, wherein the developer carrying member includes a substrate and a resin-coated layer formed on the substrate, wherein the resin-coated layer contains at least a binder resin, graphitized particles and roughing particles, wherein the graphitized particles have a graphitization degree (p(002)) of 0.20 to 0.95 and a volume-averaged particle size of 1.0 to 3.6 μm in an intermediate coating used for forming the resin-coated layer, wherein the roughing particles have a volume-averaged particle size of 5.5 to 20.0 μm and an average circularity SF-1 of not less than 0.75, wherein the resin-coated layer has an arithmetic mean roughness (Ra) of 0.9 to 2.5 μm and, in a surface configuration of the resin-coated layer as measured by use of a focused optical laser, a volume (B) of a microtopographical region defined by a certain area (A) of the microtopographical region without convexity formed by the roughing particles meets the following relationship: 4.5≦B/A≦6.5, wherein the resin-coated layer is formed by coating the substrate with the intermediate coating using an air-spray method and by heating the resin-coated layer, and wherein the graphitized particles are obtained by a method comprising the steps of: pulverizing bulk mesophase pitch to obtain pulverized particles having a size of 2 to 25 μm, the bulk mesophase pitch being 95% or more by weight soluble in quinoline; oxidizing the pulverized particles at a temperature of 200 to 350° C. in air to obtain oxidation-treated particles containing 5 to 15% oxygen by weight; carbonizing the oxidation-treated particles by a primary burning conducted at a temperature of 800 to 1200° C. in an inert atmosphere; and graphitizing the carbonized particles by a secondary burning conducted at a temperature of 2000 to 3500° C. in an inert atmosphere.