Chemical Toner Myths

Original manufacturers have widely used chemical toner since the very moment the technology emerged. The chemical toner has been marketed as a product with numerous advantages over the conventional toner. Original manufacturers claim that chemically produced toner particles are smaller in size and have more regular shape, which is said to enhance printing quality.



The manufacturers invest heavily into production of chemical toner and promotion of its advantages. Many printing devices models are designed and sold under disguise of adoption of new toner type.



A great marketing work has been done to present chemical toner as something unique. One of the manufacturers even gave chemical toner its brand name to stand out from the competitors making compatible and original toners. When it comes to the protection of the intellectual property in the area of development and production of chemical toner, original manufacturers take it seriously. Thus, the production of compatible analogues without violating the intellectual property is hindered.



The advantages of chemical toners have become widely accepted on the market with some original manufacturers contributing a lot to it and quick adaptation of new devices using such toner. However, regular toner is still used the most, thanks to the huge fleet of machines working with it.



Worth mentioning is the fact, that not all major OEM bands have switched to production of devices compatible with chemical toner. At least two manufacturers claimed to keep on making machines to use regular toner.

It is believed the smaller a toner particle, the higher printing volume and quality are. In the past, the production of regular toner was economically limited due to low output rate of pulverized toner. The chemical approach made it possible to manufacture fine particles of virtually same size.



A progress in method of pulverization production has been made, so now standard toner came be smaller, have regular shape and little difference in the size of particles. The advanced methods make standard toner more competitive compared to its chemical counterpart. A study showed that the method of production is less important than difference in particles size, fluctuation, charge, temperature properties and other parameters of toner particles.



Even shape of a particle isnt so important. The way two particles work is far more critical than the method of production. Often (and this is essential) both chemical and standard toner are made of same materials.



Actually, regular toner can be used in machines originally designed to work with chemical toner. Regardless the production technology, printer toner has several characteristics, such as ability to hold a charge, surface smoothness, flowability, size and temperature properties. If these parameters of standard toner match or are close to those of the chemical one, they are compatible. It is toner and printing quality, saturation of impressions and adhesion that everyone should think about, not the production methods.



So, you can use one type of toner to refill a cartridge originally designed to work with the other type of toner. Properly made standard toner can be mixed with chemical toner, provided their critical parameters values are close.



You dont have to worry about you device printing more dirty, if you use standard toner. First off, tracks of toner on a print are a sign of the device being littered with waste toner. Toner dust settles on the surface of drums, belts and rollers, so dirt marks have nothing to do with method of production.



Chemical toners make crisp and clear images due to intensive control over particles dispersion. Strength of charge, size and shape of the particles are what controls the dispersion, which, in turn, pollutes the device. Properly manufactured standard toner with similar parameters wouldnt be any dirtier than the chemical toner.



Toner dust is not a side effect of production technology, its a result of particles specification.



It is true that manufacturing of chemical toner is more ecology friendly, as it requires less energy, but there also a tricky part.



To pulverize standard toner, electricity is used. To make chemical toner, large volumes of water are required. Additional energy is consumed to produce, use and utilize water. Chemical toner is fuser under lower temperatures in printers, which saves some energy, but its the machine that save energy, not the toner.