Abstract: A base element for a fixing belt are provided. The base element includes a sheet which is made of a heat resistant resin and has opposite end portions joined in an endless state. A conductive film layer of a thickness of 3 to 15 ?m is provided over two third or more area of an inner surface of the endless belt.

Abstract: Disclosed is an intermediate transferring belt utilized in order to transfer a toner image formed by developing a latent image on an image bearing member by means of a toner, wherein the intermediate transferring belt comprises a matrix and conductive fine particles, the conductive fine particles are dispersed into the matrix, and the surface resistivity ?s of the outer surface of the intermediate transferring belt is 1.0×109 ohm/square to 1.0×1013 ohm/square, and wherein the intermediate transferring belt is applied to an image forming apparatus of which transferring electric field is controlled to 15 MV/m or less when the toner image on the image bearing member is primarily transferred to the intermediate transferring belt.

Abstract: A film is made of an insulating matrix resin and an electroconductive material, in which the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that a surface resistivity of A [?] of the film and a volume resistivity of B [?·cm] of the film in the direction of a thickness thereof normal to the surface of the film satisfy a relationship of: A>B, and when the film has a thickness of T [cm], the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that the surface resistivity of A [?] of the film and the volume resistivity of B [?·cm] of the film satisfy a relationship of: A[?]×T[cm]>B[?·cm]. This film can be prepared by a centrifugal molding method.

Abstract: In a method for evaluating a fixing member to fix a toner having a surface layer, a hardness test is carried out by applying a pressure deformation from the surface side of the fixing member, and when a deformation of the surface layer by the pressure deformation is within an elastic range, the fixing member is regarded as a standard product.

Abstract: In a method for evaluating a fixing member to fix a toner having a surface layer, a hardness test is carried out by applying a pressure deformation from the surface side of the fixing member, and when a deformation of the surface layer by the pressure deformation is within an elastic range, the fixing member is regarded as a standard product.

Abstract: An intermediate transfer belt, an image forming apparatus including the belt, and method for making the belt, the method including: transferring a mixture of a solution of a thermosetting resin and a particulate electroconductive material into a centrifugal mold; rotating the centrifugal mold to form a film attached to an inner periphery thereof; thermally imidizing the film to have an imidization ratio not greater than 98%; and drawing the film to entirely harden the film and to form the intermediate transfer belt. The intermediate transfer belt may be used in an electrophotographic image forming process in which a toner image of each color formed on plurality of image bearing members is overlappingly transferred to the intermediate transfer belt to form a multi-colored image thereon. The multi-colored image is transferred to a transfer material.

Abstract: Disclosed are a fixing belt and a method for evaluating it in which an occurrence of crumple can be prevented by means of accurate evaluation whether a surface of the fixing belt has a appropriate flexibility or not. In this method for evaluating, a universal hardness test is achieved for the fixing belt in which an elastic layer and a mold releasing layer are laminated on a substrate, the fixing belt is judged as an acceptable product if a creep value CHU is included within a range of 0.40?CHU?3.50 (%) when a creep value CHU which is measured from the mold releasing layer side is defined by CHU=(h2?h1)/h1×100 (%) where h1 is a pushed depth (mm) when a test load reaches a predetermined value which is kept for a predetermined period of time, and h2 is a pushed depth (mm) when a predetermined period of time is elapsed after the test load is removed.

Abstract: Disclosed is an intermediate transferring belt utilized in order to transfer a toner image formed by developing a latent image on an image bearing member by means of a toner, wherein the intermediate transferring belt comprises a matrix and conductive fine particles, the conductive fine particles are dispersed into the matrix, and the surface resistivity ?s of the outer surface of the intermediate transferring belt is 1.0×109 ohm/square to 1.0×1013 ohm/square, and wherein the intermediate transferring belt is applied to an image forming apparatus of which transferring electric field is controlled to 15 MV/m or less when the toner image on the image bearing member is primarily transferred to the intermediate transferring belt.

Abstract: Disclosed are a fixing belt and a method for evaluating it in which an occurrence of crumple can be prevented by means of accurate evaluation whether a surface of the fixing belt has a appropriate flexibility or not. In this method for evaluating, a universal hardness test is achieved for the fixing belt in which an elastic layer and a mold releasing layer are laminated on a substrate, the fixing belt is judged as an acceptable product if a creep value CHU is included within a range of 0.40?CHU?3.50(%) when a creep value CHU which is measured from the mold releasing layer side is defined by a formula below. CHU=(h2?h1)/h1×100(%) where h1 is a pushed depth (mm) when a test load reaches a predetermined value which is kept for a predetermined period of time, and h2 is a pushed depth (mm) when a predetermined period of time is elapsed after the test load is removed.

Abstract: Disclosed are an electrification apparatus and an image forming apparatus which reduce ozone generation, provide uniform electrification of a photosensitive body, and have high durability. This electrification apparatus comprises: a first magnet means composed of a magnetized base body obtained by magnetizing a base body of the photosensitive body drum or a magnet configured inside of the base body of the photosensitive body drum; a second magnet means magnetically levitated outside of the photosensitive body drum by the first magnet means; and a discharge electrode firmly attached to a face of the second magnet means opposed to the photosensitive body surface, the discharge electrode having a predetermined distance to the photosensitive body surface.

Abstract: In a method for evaluating a fixing member to fix a toner having a surface layer, a hardness test is carried out by applying a pressure deformation from the surface side of the fixing member, and when a deformation of the surface layer by the pressure deformation is within an elastic range, the fixing member is regarded as a standard product.

Abstract: A test measurement of the universal hardness is carried for a fixing belt (20) formed by sequentially coating an elastic layer (22) and a separation layer onto a base element (21), in which case, the universal hardness is determined for each of indentation depths of 1 &mgr;m and 4 &mgr;m from the surface side of the separation layer (23). The fixing belt (20) can be regarded as a standard product, when the universal hardness HU for the indentation depth of 1 &mgr;m satisfies the relation, HU≦30 [N/mm2], and, at the same time, when the universal hardness HU for the indentation depth of 4 &mgr;m satisfies the relation, HU≦12 [N/mm2].

Abstract: A film is made of an insulating matrix resin and an electroconductive material, in which the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that a surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and a volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film in the direction of a thickness thereof normal to the surface of the film satisfy a relationship of: A>B, and when the film has a thickness of T [cm], the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that the surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and the volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film satisfy a relationship of; A[&OHgr;]'T [cm]>B [&OHgr;·cm]. This film can be prepared by a centrifugal molding method.

Abstract: A film is made of an insulating matrix resin and an electroconductive material, in which the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that a surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and a volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film in the direction of a thickness thereof normal to the surface of the film satisfy a relationship of: A>B, and when the film has a thickness of T [cm], the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that the surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and the volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film satisfy a relationship of: A [&OHgr;]×T [cm]>B [&OHgr;·cm]. This film can be prepared by a centrifugal molding method.

Abstract: A film is made of an insulating matrix resin and an electroconductive material, in which the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that a surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and a volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film in the direction of a thickness thereof normal to the surface of the film satisfy a relationship of: A>B, and when the film has a thickness of T [cm], the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that the surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and the volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film satisfy a relationship of; A [&OHgr;]×T [cm]>B [&OHgr;·cm]. This film can be prepared by a centrifugal molding method.

Abstract: Disclosed are an electrification apparatus and an image forming apparatus which reduce ozone generation, provide uniform electrification of a photosensitive body, and have high durability. This electrification apparatus comprises: a first magnet means composed of a magnetized base body obtained by magnetizing a base body of the photosensitive body drum or a magnet configured inside of the base body of the photosensitive body drum; a second magnet means magnetically levitated outside of the photosensitive body drum by the first magnet means; and a discharge electrode firmly attached to a face of the second magnet means opposed to the photosensitive body surface, the discharge electrode having a predetermined distance to the photosensitive body surface.

Abstract: A film is made of an insulating matrix resin and an electroconductive material, in which the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that a surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and a volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film in the direction of a thickness thereof normal to the surface of the film satisfy a relationship of: A>B, and when the film has a thickness of T [cm], the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that the surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and the volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film satisfy a relationship of: A [&OHgr;]×T [cm]>B [&OHgr;·cm]. This film can be prepared by a centrifugal molding method.

Abstract: To provide a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a method of manufacturing an active matrix substrate, and an electrooptic device in which in forming different type TFTs on the same substrate, a variation in the LDD length or offset length of TFT can be suppressed by a small number of steps. In the method of manufacturing an active matrix substrate, a patterning mask 554 used for forming gate electrodes 15 and 25 is left, and used in introducing a medium concentration of phosphorus ion to introduce impurities in self alignment with the patterning mask 554. Next, with the patterning mask 554 removed, low-concentration of phosphorus ion is introduced by using the gate electrodes 15 and 25 as a mask to form low-concentration source-drain regions 111, 121, 211 and 221 in self alignment with the gate electrodes 15 and 25. The LDD length of each of the regions is equal to the amount of side etching caused in patterning the gate electrodes 15 and 25.

Abstract: A film is made of an insulating matrix resin and an electroconductive material, in which the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that a surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and a volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film in the direction of a thickness thereof normal to the surface of the film satisfy a relationship of: A>B, and when the film has a thickness of T [cm], the electroconductive material is dispersed in the insulating matrix resin in such a manner that the surface resistivity of A [&OHgr;] of the film and the volume resistivity of B [&OHgr;·cm] of the film satisfy a relationship of; A[&OHgr;]'T [cm]>B [&OHgr;·cm]. This film can be prepared by a centrifugal molding method.

Abstract: An image fixing roller includes an exothermic phase transition layer which performs a plurality of phase transitions repeatedly from an amorphous state to a crystalline state. The exothermic phase transition layer may include a plurality of exothermic phase transition materials, or a plurality of exothermic phase transition component layers, each of which exothermic phase transition material or component layer has a different crystallization initiation temperature (Tci), a different exothermic peak temperature (Tcp) and a melting point temperature which is higher than that of a toner fixing temperature. An image fixing apparatus using the above-mentioned image fixing roller and a method of fixing toner images on an image receiving material, using the image fixing roller are proposed.