Laser Printer Toner Continuing to Evolve for Developing a Recycling-oriented Society

Materials for Digital Printing

Laser printing involves fusing the toner with heat or pressure to fix it to the paper surface.
Toner fixation requires lots of energy, so from the perspective of reducing environmental impact, there is growing demand for low-temperature fixation technology. However, conventional low-temperature fixable toners lack heat-resistant preservability, as the particles coagulate and become fused by heat during transit or storage.

By dispersing particles as fine as 10 to 100 nm of a highly thermos-responsive crystalline material developed on our own in toner, Kao has developed a low-temperature fixable toner that can reduce printing-related CO2 emissions in (Figure 1).

Particles as fine as 10 nm to 100 nm of a highly thermos-responsive crystalline material are dispersed in the toner.

Figure 1

In addition, by combining the low-temperature fixable toner technology with our unique interface control technology, we developed LUNATONETM, a capsule-type toner that can be fixed at an extremely low temperature of less than 100°C *1 (Figure 2).

Capsule-type toner in which a core particle is encapsulated in an approx. 90 nm-thick shell particle.

Figure 2

LUNATONETM reduces CO2 emissions derived from the toner used in printing by 40% compared to conventional toners*2 , and can be used for printing on heat-sensitive films such as labels and packages, which was previously difficult (Figure 3).

When Kao LUNATONE is used, CO2 emissions per piece of paper printed are reduced by approx. 40% due to a decrease in toner usage and a reduction in CO2 emissions in printing as compared to Kao’s conventional low-temperature fixable toners.

Figure 3

Furthermore, as this new toner has a quicker thermal response than the normal type, it instantly spreads in a wet form over the printed surface. This results in printing at the same density with less toner use, leading to a significant reduction in toner consumption.

Kao is endeavoring to produce environment-friendly and functional products by further advancing polymer technology and interface control technology, and so far we have received the 53rd Technology Award Environmental Technology Prize from the Japan Chemical Industry Association (JCIA) (2020) for this research.

  • * 1 For the evaluation, an external fixing device owned by Kao was used. Toner volume was 0.45 mg/cm2. A4-sized sheets were printed in portrait orientation at a speed of 35 ppm.
  • * 2 Evaluation using LCA to compare with Kao’s conventional toners.

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