Patent ID: 6899986

Claim:
An image forming method, comprising passing a toner image-bearing sheet through a nip defined between two rollers including a heater roller to fix the toner image on said sheet, wherein said toner image is formed from a toner comprising a binder resin, and a colorant, wherein the toner image before the passage through said nip has a toner volume V 1 and a toner image area S 1 , wherein the toner image after the passage through said nip has a toner volume V 2 and a toner image area S 2 , and wherein a volume change Vt and an area change St defined by the formulas shown below are 30% or less and 20% or less, respectively: Vt (%)=( V 1 − V 2 )/ V 1 ×100 St (%)=( S 2 − S 1 )/ S 1 ×100 wherein V 1 , V 2 , S 1 and S 2 are as defined above.