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New EA Toner Process Breaks the Size Barrier, Promises Better Resolution
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On a computer screen, smaller pixels produce sharper pictures. It's the same with t
he toner that's used to form the images printed on a laser printer or copier: Smaller
particles mean sharper images - plus lower cost per print.
But as toner particles become smaller, the cost of making them by current technology
rises exponentially. Several years ago, Xerox Corporation researchers realized that
toner made by their current technology had just about reached the lower limit in size,
and they started looking for a new way to make it.
Toner is the "dry ink" for laser printers and copiers. It's a mixture of plastic
resin, colorant and other toner ingredients. Today, most toner is made by "melt mixing"
the ingredients into strands that are pulverized into small particles - a process
that's both inexact and energy intensive. Because the particles are smashed at random,
their size cannot be precisely controlled. Some are too big and others too fine, so
they are mechanically sorted to achieve required toner size and size distribution.
It's like sifting dust. This method produces toner with average size greater than 7
microns in diameter; making it smaller is not economically practical.
Materials scientists at Xerox Research Centre of Canada (Mississauga, Ontario) under
the direction of Hadi Mahabadi -- and in conjunction with the Xerox Supplies Delivery
Unit and Fuji Xerox in Japan -- developed a chemical approach to economically creating
even smaller toner particles. They started at the molecular level and perfected a way
to grow toner particles under controlled conditions to exactly the size, shape and
structure needed. They could make round or potato-shaped toner particles of about
3-5 microns in diameter - so small that it takes 100 of them to make the period at
the end of this sentence. These toner particles produce prints with sharper images,
plus the resulting prints use less toner and therefore cost less. Prints using a
5-micron toner require 40 percent less toner than those made by a 9-micron toner.
The new process, called emulsion aggregation or EA for short, turned out to have
added benefits. It will require less energy to make, generate less waste, contribute
to printer reliability, and cut the time it takes for printers to recover from
energy-saving sleep modes. It is protected by a portfolio of more than 400 patents.
The first generation of printers to use EA toner will soon be available. Announced
in June, the DocuColor 1632 Printer/Copier and the DocuColor 2240 Printer/Copier
produce color prints and copies for less than 10 cents per page -- a new cost
benchmark for products in this class.
Xerox Corporation, one of the world's top technology innovators, spends about $1
billion annually on research and development. It operates six research centers
in the United States, Canada and Europe that conduct work in color science,
computing, digital imaging, work practices, novel materials and other disciplines.
Xerox consistently builds its innovation into business by embedding it in superior
Xerox products and solutions, using it as the foundation of new spinoffs, or
licensing or selling it to other entities.
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| 2008
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| Incubating Inside Xerox Labs: Innovation that Benifits the Workplace, Healthcare, and the Environment
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| Robert Loce Elected SPIE Fellow
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| Rochester Engineering Society Celebrates Technical Excellence
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| Xerox is Among the World's Best Analyst Competing to Win the Edelman Prize for Achievemnt in Operations Research & Analytics
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| Patent Powerhouse: Xerox Boasts 101 Inventors with 50 or More Patents
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| 2007
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| Xerox Reveals Breakthrough Software that Categorizes Text and Images at the Same Time
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| Xerox funds new services laboratory at NC State University
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| The Science Consultant Program: Bringing Science to Life for 40 Years
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| Xerox Technology Tricks Counterfeiters
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| Xerox Opens Its Labs to Journalists on TechDay
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| R&D Magazine Lauds Xerox FreeFlow VI Software Suite
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| Getting to 100 before 50; Xerox scientist Bob Loce Reaches Patent Milestone
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| Xerox to Fund Green, Nano, Imaging Fellowships at MIT School of Engineering
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| Know-How Results in breakthrough paper: saves trees and money
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| Xerox Funds 11 New University Research Projects
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| Surpassing Search: New Xerox text mining software goes beyond "keywords" to deliver more relevant information
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| Xerox receives the National Medal of Technology
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| Now You See It, Now You Don't: Xerox Scientists Develop Fluorescent Writing To Deter Counterfeiting
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| Xerox Scientist Creates 'Color Language' Making Color Matching as Easy as Describing a Color
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| PARC Scientist Stu Card Wins Franklin Institute Bower Award for Achievement in Science
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| Inside Innovation at Xerox: Scientists Create a Rainbow of Custom Blended Colors for DocuTech Highlight Color Systems
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| Xerox's Santokh Badesha Reaches Rare Milestone; Inventor Awarded 150th Patent
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| Content Centric Networking
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| Groundbreaking Canadian Nanotechnology Partnership Lays Foundation For Big Success From Tiny Tech
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| Xerox Awarded 27 Percent More Patents In 2006
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| 2006
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| 2005
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| 2004
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| 2003
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| 2002
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| 2001
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Contact Us: for questions about Xerox research and innovation, patents or technology
licensing, scientific work and related inquiries, please email:
xigwebmaster@xerox.com
Outside Submissions: Xerox encourages and welcomes unsolicited ideas and suggestions. More information on submitting your ideas to Xerox for review can be found here.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us by email at Outsidesubmissions@xerox.com.
For all other inquiries, please use the appropriate contacts listed at Contact Xerox.
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