Patent ID: 8615177

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a first image forming unit configured to form an image on a sheet with a first material that is not erasable by heating; a second image forming unit that is located on a downstream side of the first image forming unit in a sheet conveying direction, the second image forming unit configured to form an image on the sheet with a second material that is erasable by heating to an erasing temperature; and a fixing device that is located on a downstream side of the first image forming unit in the sheet conveying direction and located on a upstream side of the second image forming unit in the sheet conveying direction, the fixing device configured to fix the image with the first material on the sheet by heating the sheet to a fixing temperature lower than the erasing temperature in a fixing process, and configured to heat the sheet on which the image is formed with the second material to a temperature above the erasing temperature in an erasing process; a sheet conveying unit configured to convey the sheet subjected to the erasing process of the fixing device to the second image forming unit; a control unit configured to control the sheet conveying unit to convey the sheet from the fixing device to the second image forming unit in a time that is equal to or longer than a predetermined cooling time when the second image forming unit forms the image on the sheet that is subjected to the erasing process of the fixing device.