A special form of printing technology that does not require any ink or cartridge is called thermal printing. The technique has been around since the 1960s. However, it gathered popularity with the introduction of the fax machine. Thermal printing requires a thermal printer and a special paper developed for such a printer known as thermal paper.
Nowadays, thermal papers are used in various industries. If you visited any shopping complex or a departmental store today, chances are you got a receipt printed on thermal paper. Sports event tickets, shipping labels, concert tickets, receipts, barcode labels, etc. are some of the many uses of thermal paper.
Before you search for your nearest thermal paper manufacturers it is important to gather all the information about these special rolls of printable paper. Let us discuss the technique and its working in detail.
What is thermal paper?
A thermal paper is a special paper that changes its color when exposed to heat. The targeted heat from the printer head is used by the thermal printer to print on thermal paper. It does not require any ink as required with traditional printing.
The printing technique is mainly used when you want to print information that varies each time. For example, for a credit card terminal, the information such as the customer’s name and the amount will vary each time. However, there could be some information that remains uniform and can be printed with a traditional printer.
Thermal printers are convenient and portable. They do not require much maintenance and can be used for multiple purposes. Let us understand the functionality of a thermal printer in details.
How does thermal paperwork?
A thermal paper is coated with a mixture of dye and chemicals. When the paper is heated the dye reacts with the chemicals and produces a color shift. The printing head in a printer heats the specific areas on the paper to print letters and pictures. The printing usually appears in black. However, for some papers the color blue or red may appear.
A thermal paper usually consists of three layers.
• The base layer
This layer consists of the paper itself that is developed for thermal printing. The base layer is coated with thermal layers.
• Precoat layer
The precoat layer allows the heat to move through the paper. It acts as a binding element and improves the smoothness and anchoring of the paper.
• Active coat layer
The active layer consists of the dye and chemicals. This layer makes the paper react to heat and enables the printing of letters and pictures.
These are the three main layers of thermal paper. However, some thermal papers can also consist of two additional layers. These layers are not necessarily a part of all thermal papers but can improve the durability and quality of thermal printing.
• Topcoat
This protective layer prevents the printed paper from fading. It protects the paper from liquid spillage, humidity, scratches, etc. This is used to produce durable thermal printed images.
• Anti-static coat
An additional coating below the base paper layer is applied for anti-static electricity treatment and backside protection against adhesive.
All these layers ensure that the thermal paper produces high-quality printing that is durable and can be used for varied purposes.
Can thermal paperwork with regular printers and vice versa?
Thermal papers are specifically designed to enable printing without ink, toner, cartridge, etc. Thermal papers require a special printer that uses thermal reactions to create printing. Hence thermal paper should not be used with regular printers.
Similarly, normal papers should not be used with thermal printers. To ensure that the printing is high quality and durable, thermal papers should only be used with thermal printers.
Now that you have gathered enough information about thermal papers and their working technique, you can decide whether or not you want to choose them for your business.