Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Masaki Sekizawa

Kazuo Nojima

Junji Kurokawa

An image forming apparatus including a charge roller for providing a charge to a photoconductive member. The charge roller includes a metallic core with a conductive elastic layer covering the metallic core and a surface layer covering the elastic layer. The conductive elastic layer is preferably formed of an epichlorohydrein rubber or a urethane rubber. In addition, the conductive elastic layer and surface layer preferably have thickness and roughness characteristics as discussed herein.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Masaki Sekizawa