By Lisa Guerriero
Part one of two
Quality and versatility defined electrophotographic (EP) technology early on. Advancements in toner over the past decade allow EP devices to offer improved quality and efficiency.
Product advancements include smaller particle sizes, enhanced fusing properties, and lower melt temperatures. These developments provide a range of options to ensure consistency and durability without sacrificing productivity.
In part one of this two-part series, we examine developments in both dry and liquid toner formulation, and how the technology serves EP users. Part two of this article spotlights the toner evolution of flagship EP devices.
Dry Toner
Dry toner is a popular option among EP devices and utilized by vendors including Canon, Kodak, Konica Minolta, MGI, Ricoh, Xeikon, and Xerox. These vendors work diligently to offer continued improvements to their offerings, including enhanced color spectrums, smaller particles, lower melting points, and refined chemical formulations.
Color vibrancy and consistency are essential assets offered by EP, which ties into quality. Smaller particles allow toner to be densely packed with color, while more uniform particle shapes ensure consistency.
Offering higher optical density and color consistency, today’s toner options are developed to produce quality that rivals offset. Moreover, it enables a broader variety of applications.
“The improved granularity has produced a richer spectrum of hues and a greater range of even brighter and more vibrant colors,” explains Kevin Abergel, VP of marketing and sales, MGI USA.
“Improvements in edge sharpness and high optical density provide excellent contrast between dark and light areas of the form, ensuring high barcode readability critical to our customer’s business operations,” says Eric Hawkinson, senior director, marketing, Production Print Solutions, Canon.
Scott Reese, VP, Partnered Products Business Unit, cut sheet line of business, Graphic Communications Business Group, Xerox Corporation, observes that in terms of applications, today’s EP devices serve the photographic market, create high-quality collateral, and are used to produce state-of-the-art direct mail.
Durability is another concern, which includes the ability of the toner to properly bond to different media types. The latest toner formulations promise advanced fusion capabilities.
“Output durability has increased with better EP chemical formulations that create stronger adherence and bonding,” suggests Abergel.
One challenge of proper fusion is the potential to limit the speed at which the printer can operate effectively while still providing good image quality. Equipment advancements also evolve to allow improved efficiency in this area. Devices such as Konica Minolta’s 100 page per minute bizhub PRESS C1100 promises to deliver offset quality output at high speeds without slowing down on thick stocks.
Fred Morrone, product marketing manager, Ricoh, points out that its alternating current technology utilizes a soft transfer belt to ensure good toner transfer and fusing on textured papers, resulting in consistent toner coverage.
A lower melting point also optimizes print quality and media versatility. Higher melt temperatures were previously a barrier to the adoption of EP technology, limiting the types and thickness of media the devices could handle.
“We continue to see enhancements in the ability to print on a wider range of media, from textured to synthetics, as well as thicker media and envelopes,” notes Morrone.
Liquid Toner
Liquid toner options are an alternative to dry toner. Though it contains particles like dry toner, liquid carriers are utilized to deliver speed and quality. Similar to evolutions in dry toner, smaller particle sizes in liquid toner options ensure fast printing. In addition to speed, it works well with specialty media, expanding a print provider’s application options.
Liquid toner “enables the benefits of cost-effectiveness, high quality, and blazing speeds that have not previously existed in the marketplace,” suggests Danny Mertens, corporate communications manager, Xeikon International. The company recently introduced a liquid EP product, Trillium.
Hewlett-Packard (HP) Indigo presses utilize HP ElectroInk, which contains charged pigmented particles in a liquid carrier. “HP Indigo customers produce industry leading output quality and bring compelling value to creative design, photography, product decoration, and promotional applications on a diverse range of media, including colored, metallic, synthetic, and transparent substrates,” notes Avi Basu, director of market and business development, Americas Graphics Solutions Business, HP.
Toner Milestones
Toner’s evolution is marked by several key developments. Smaller particles enable dense concentrations of color, providing image quality comparable to offset. Refined chemical formulations offer better adherence and durability. Lower melt points enable printing on more substrates and types of media. dps
Oct2015, DPS Magazine
