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.