Patent ID: 7945191

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: an image holder; a charging unit that charges the image holder; a latent image forming unit that forms a latent image on a surface of the charged image holder; a developing unit that develops the latent image formed on the surface of the image holder to form a toner image, using a toner including toner particles and an external additive; a transfer unit that transfers the toner image formed on the surface of the image holder onto a recording medium; a toner-particle removal unit that removes toner particles remaining on the surface of the image holder after the transfer of the toner image by the transfer unit; and an external-additive removal unit that includes a conductive blade disposed to contact the surface of the image holder and removes, after the transfer of the toner image by the transfer unit, external additive remaining on the surface of the image holder using the conductive blade while applying a voltage to the surface of the image holder via the conductive blade, wherein an electric potential of a DC component of the voltage applied via the conductive blade is substantially the same as an electric potential Vb of a region of the surface of the image holder carrying the toner image.