A heat fixing apparatus, in which a recording material, with an unfixed image
passes
through a fixing nip formed by a fixing member and a pressurizing member, has an
electro-conductive member to be in contact with the recording material disposed
downstream of the fixing nip with respect to the recording material conveying direction,
wherein a bias voltage is applied to at least one of the fixing member and the
electro-conductive member. As recording materials are consecutively fed, the bias
voltage applied while the recording materials pass through the fixing nip portion
is gradually decreased in accordance with the number of heated recording materials.
Thus, smeared image trailing edge upon fixing is prevented from occurring, and
the amount of toner adhering to the surface of the fixing member or the surface
of the pressurizing member is reduced, so that image errors such as toner contamination
are prevented from occurring.
