Patent ID: 7447474

Claim:
A fixing apparatus comprising: a rotatable fixing member and a rotatable pressing belt configured to fix an unfixed toner image on a sheet at a fixing nip therebetween, said pressing belt is disposed so as to contact with a side opposite to a side of the sheet on which the unfixed toner image is formed; a roller, disposed opposed to said fixing member through said pressing belt at the fixing nip, configured to rotatably support said pressing belt, said roller being pressed at end portions toward said fixing member; wherein said roller has a diameter which is larger at an axially central portion thereof than at the axially end portions thereof; and wherein said roller has a friction coefficient which is larger at the axially end portions than at the axially central portion, and wherein a portion between one of the axially end portions and the axially central portion has a friction coefficient which is smaller than the friction coefficient at the axially end portion and which is larger than the friction coefficient at the axially central portion.