Magnetic and Thermo-Mechanical Properties of Raw Materials for High Speed Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) Toners

Abstract

The standards for MICR printing in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia have been reviewed. Experiments have been carried out on a range of toner formulations to determine their suitability in high speed non impact printer applications to meet the above standards.The design of popular high speed reader sorters have been examined to determine how the processing of non impact printed cheques affects toner formulation. The mechanism for damage to the non impact printed cheques has been determined by examination of the cheques which have passed through a high speed reader sorter using optical microscopy.The relationship of the thermo-mechanical properties of the binder polymers to the performance of these toners is considered. This is in terms of reader sorter performance and fuse properties of the toners. Characterisation by rheological measurement, DSC, MFI etc. are described.Properties of magnetic oxides have been examined in terms of their effect on reader sorter signal levels, toner fixing and MICR document quality.Toners suitable for a variety of fusing systems are considered i.e. hot roll, flash radiant etc. The results for the toners considered have been evaluated by high reader sorter performance, MICR qualifier signal traces, micrographs of post reader sorter cheques plus a variety of fusing tests.