IMAGE FORMING METHOD

PURPOSE:To improve image quality by holding and pressing a toner image, bringing it into tight contact with a transfer material, supporting it by a smooth supporting surface after it is heated and pressured, and separating it after it is cooled. CONSTITUTION:The toner image is carried on an image carrier 1. The toner image meets the transfer paper 5 at a nip part between a pressuring roller 9 and a heating roller 2. Furthermore, the toner image is held and pressed by the curved smooth surfaces of both rollers 9 and 2, so that it is brought into tight contact with the transfer paper 5 and heated and pressured in such a tight contact state to be melted and softened. Therefore, the image carrier 1 and the transfer paper 5 are in the tight contact state through the toner image. Then, the image carrier 1 is carried in a direction shown by an arrow in a state where it holds the transfer paper 5 and the toner image. Therefore, the transfer paper 5 is carried by following the image carrier in a state where it is held to be planar, and reaches a cooling fan 6. While the paper 5 passes the cooling fan 6, the toner image is cooled and solidified. Thereafter, the transfer paper 5 is peeled from the image carrier 1 by the action of a separation pawl 104, and the image is fixed.