We have previously reported that in a leading-type blade cleaning systems for electrophotography, the lifetime of cleaning blades depends on the rebound resilience (R) of polyurethane rubber. In this paper, we examine the general profile of the cleaning performance (cleaning ability and lifetime of cleaning blades) in terms of the stick-slip behavior of the cleaning blade. The rate of abrasion α is defined as wear volume per unit friction length. A theoretical analysis of fatigue wear shows that α is inversely proportional to the product, N₀ L₀, of the number (N₀) of friction vibrations stripping off small fragments of polyurethane rubber and the friction length (L₀) per one cycle of vibration. Laboratory tests for fatigue fracture of polyurethane rubber show that N₀ is proportional to the −m-th power of (μW^0.47), where μ is the friction coefficient and W is the weight of the cleaning blade onto the photoreceptor surface. The cleaning blade edge has a stick-slip behavior against the surface of the photoreceptor. A new model, which takes into account viscoelastic behavior, is applied to the friction length. A cleaning blade edge once stretched by photoreceptor surface contracts with a relaxation time τ during the slip motion and L₀ ∝ – ln R is deduced. During the slip process, the blade forces remaining toner particles to move against rotating direction of photoconductive drum. It encounters greater possibility of toner particles going through blade nip during the slip processes. Therefore, the cleaning ability is proportional to 1/L₀ i.e. – 1/ln R.