LANXESS:TAYLORED TONER PIGMENTS

[Anonymous]

Chemicals Supplier Tailored Toner Pigments
European chemicals supplier, LANXESS, comments on the demand and production of magnetite pigments for printer and copier toners.
At
this year’s congress held concurrent with the Remax trade show in
Dusseldorf, Dr. Hendrik Kathrein of LANXESS gave a presentation on the
production of magnetite pigments for printer and copier toners. In his
speech, the pigments expert from the Inorganic Pigments business unit
emphasized that the demands on synthetic iron oxides are becoming
increasingly more stringent. LANXESS is keeping pace: The company has
the expertise for tailored solutions and products characterized by the
highest levels of quality and environmental compatibility. As one of
the world’s largest manufacturers of iron oxide pigments, LANXESS is
also a leading supplier of toner oxides.

Printer toner is more
than just magnetic iron oxide. In most copiers and laser printers,
magnetite pigments are used to blacken the appropriate parts of the
page. Each magnetic one-component toner contains 30 to 60 percent of
the specialty iron oxides. But modern devices have strict requirements
for the particles. Each particle should be identical to all the others
to ensure an optimal printed image. The particles have to exhibit the
proper magnetic and electrical properties, and these properties must
not be affected by humidity. Finally, the color has to be right: Deep
black with an elegant blue undertone is preferred today. To satisfy all
of these requirements, the iron oxide must crystallize under precisely
controlled conditions.Modern laser printers, for example, require the
smallest possible pigments with high tinting strength and low residual
magnetism (remanence). There are no conventional magnetite crystals
meeting these specifications. Magnetite normally crystallizes in a
cubic or an octahedral (8-faced) structure. Both forms have excessive
remanence and cannot be used in laser printers – unless larger
particles are used. The tinting strength of these coarse crystals is
too low, however. It took an ingenious formulation to produce spherical
crystals, the only ones that exhibit all of the desired properties.
LANXESS produces these specialty pigments with tailored chemical and
physical properties.

Another specialty are pigments with a
silicone “rain coat” for particularly high-performance printers. As
long as no one pours coffee into the copier, the “H-grades” absorb
almost no water. The products have significant advantages for the
manufacture of moisture-sensitive polyester-based toners. Adsorbed
water influences the conductivity of the iron oxides and thus the
electrostatic charge, which in turn can degrade print quality. The
H-grades ensure that moisture in the air does not result in washed out
colors.Because LANXESS works only with select iron raw materials, the
entire product line is nearly free of dangerous heavy metals such as
lead, cadmium, mercury or hexavalent chromium, and LANXESS pigments
allow the production of toners which satisfy the criteria for
eco-labels such as the “Blue Angel” (Germany) and “Eco Mark” (Japan).
The heavy metal content of toners has been considered a possible
workplace health hazard for some years now, making the
environment-related labels an increasingly important marketing argument
for the toner manufacturers.It is the perfect quality of the magnetic
pigments that make perfect printouts possible. LANXESS produces
tailored magnetites for a variety of applications.

[Author]

June 21, 2007 at 2:04 PM