To provide an relief smoothing apparatus that smoothes an image on a recording
sheet which is obtained by forming a polyolefin resin coating layer on a base sheet
and forming a receiving layer, in which a toner image is infiltrated, on the base
sheet, including: plural tension rolls including a first roll; an endless; a second
roll; and a heating source, the recording sheet, in which provided that a surface
temperature of the first roll is represented by Tn [ C.], a Vicat softening
temperature of the polyolefin resin is represented by Tv [ C.], and a time
required for the recording sheet to pass through the nip portion is represented
by t [sec], the following relationship is established: (Tv+55)(1+{fraction
(1/100)} t)Tn(Tv+20)/(1+{fraction (1/100)} t) [ C.].
