Effect of medium (substrate) on toner adhesion

Abstract

Adhesion of toner to a medium such as paper or plastic depends on modulus of toner paper interface that is energetic of interactions and dynamics. Energetic of interactions depend on spontaneous spreading of high surface tension liquids, while interfacial dynamics is controlled by surface friction.Surface energy is reviewed for toner and medium used in making images. Adhesion of two different solid surfaces can be predicted from their ability to induce spontaneous spreading of high surface tension liquids because interfacial forces govern the processes. The friction behavior of solid surfaces, on the other hand, is controlled by the interfacial dynamics, which has some features that are common to the sliding behavior of a liquid drop on a solid surface. In the absence hysteresis, surface energy by contact method is comparable to the indirect method by wetting. The adhesion is analyzed in terms of wetting and drop spreading. While wetting is dependent on surface energy of toner and medium, toner spreading is influenced by the ratio of surface energy to viscosity of the toner.