Monday, December 1, 2014

How Thermal Paper Works?



Despite the digital paper less revolution, paper remains an important aspect of our daily lives. It is impossible to imagine our commercial and industrial processes without paper.

Thermal paper is one of the most common types of paper used for commercial purposes. By definition, thermal paper is the paper that is chemically coated to responds to heat. When heat is applied, the dye in the coating changes color. This way visible text and images could be printed on the paper without using ink.

Thermal paper is ordinary high quality paper that is coated with a mixture of dye and an acid. When heat is applied to the paper, the temperature rises gradually to the melting point of the coating. Once the temperature is beyond the melting point, the coating breaks down. The dye reacts with the acid and changes color. The result is the visible patterns that we see on the paper.

One main issue with thermal paper is the fact that the dye disappears after sometime. This could happen because of the reversal in chemical reaction of the mechanical wearing of the dye from the surface of the paper. This is why thermal paper is not considered ideal for long-term record keeping applications.

Modern thermal paper comes with a top coating that is applied over the dye and acid mixture. This top coat remains unaffected by the heat source. The major purpose of this coat is to preserve the writing on the paper by providing a physical barrier to the wear and tear.

The history of thermal papers could be traced to 1965v when Texas Instruments invented the thermal print head. The product and the procedure really took off in 1970s when practical thermal printing machines were introduced by several US and Japanese firms. To this date, thermal paper has remained an important aspect of POS machines.

1 comment:

  1. Thermal paper is mostly used for commercial purposes, because visible text and images could be printed on the paper without using ink. For this reason I am also using thermal papers from discounttillrolls.ie. These are time saving and money consuming products. Thermal paper is widely used in POS machines.

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