FIELD

Embodiments relate to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.

BACKGROUND

There are on-demand heating devices such as film fixing units. Such an on-demand heating device drives a film by means of a rotating member provided with an elastic layer. In such an on-demand heating apparatus, a lubricant such as grease is applied to the film, so that torque required for driving the film is reduced. However, the viscosity of the lubricant varies depending on the temperature. Therefore, in the case where the on-demand heating device which has not been used for a while is restarted, the viscosity of the lubricant may decrease. When the viscosity of the lubricant is reduced as described above, torque required for driving the film may increase. In order to suppress the torque increase, there has been proposed a technique in which the lubricant is heated before the rotation member starts rotating in order to decrease the viscosity of the lubricant and suppress the torque increase. However, due to the decrease in viscosity, the lubricant may leak to the outside of the film to be coated.

