XEROX PRODUCES ERASABLE PAPER

[Anonymous]

Xerox produces erasable paper
MAY
2007 SINCE the advent of computers and an increase of environmental
concerns, paper was supposed to fall out of favour as a storage
medium.It didn’t, and when researchers at Xerox discovered that two out
of five photocopies ended up in the recycling bin at the end of the
day, they decided to do something about it.

And now, what Xerox calls erasable paper, is being developed.Although
the technology is still in a preliminary state, it blurs the line
between paper documents and digital displays and could lead to a big
reduction in paper use, according to Paul Smith, who is not only direct
marketing program manager at Xerox’s research centre in Canada but
manages the company’s new materials design and synthesis laboratory.Dr
Smith says the increasing use of paper was a catalyst for the
research.From talking to customers, researchers learnt that people want
re-usability but don’t want to lose the attributes of paper, he
says.”Give them paper so they can still write on it and take it to a
meeting,” he says.To develop erasable paper, Xerox needed to identify
ways to create temporary images.It did this by developing compounds
that change colour when they absorb a certain wavelength of light but
then gradually disappear.The paper self-erases in about 16 to 24 hours
and can be used many times. Smith says it’s a similar process to that
used in making photochromatic lenses on eye spectacles. (Photochromatic
glass is a material whose optical properties can be altered
electrically.)Smith’s lab in Canada developed the paper that creates
the image and Xerox’s Palo Alto research centre created the image bar
that can write the image on to special paper and developed a prototype
printer that creates the image on the paper using a light bar that
provides a specific wavelength of light as a writing source.The process
works without toner and produces a low-resolution document that appears
to be printed with purple ink.The written image fades naturally within
16 hours or can be immediately erased by exposing it to heat.According
to Xerox, individual pieces of paper have been used up to 50 times, the
only limit in the process being paper life.Smith says, however, that
erasable paper is still a development project, Xerox needing to work
with business divisions to see where it would go.The price of the
erasable paper will also be critical to its success in the marketplace
and the aim is to keep its cost to within three times that of regular
paperXerox’s research in erasable paper is one of the company’s
continuing investments in “green products” that deliver measurable
benefits to the environment.Another is solid-ink printing technology,
which generates 90 per cent less waste than comparable laser printers.

[Author]

May 24, 2007 at 10:27 AM