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168 Chapter 6 – Toner cartridge information EN
Toner cracking
When the media is folded and the crease aligns with a line of text, it is
possible with certain types of media for the text to break along the line,
giving the appearance of a white line through the text. Media that does
not meet the smoothness (100 to 250 Sheffield, 100 to 500 Bendtsen)
or wax pick (>11 Dennison) is likely to exhibit this effect more than other
media.
Toner in the HP LaserJet printers is composed of minute particles of
pigmented plastic material (styrene) and iron oxide. When the toner is
subjected to the fusing temperature, these individual, iron-impregnated
plastic particles become part of a larger plastic image on the page.
When the printed page is subsequently folded, the plastic image must
also give in some fashion to accommodate the fold. If the print image
has been well-set into the paper, the resulting break in the plastic will
not be apparent. However, if the toner is unable to adequately
penetrate the paper fibers, or if in the process of folding the paper the
paper fibers behind the toner break away from the page itself, the result
will be a “white line” through the image. There are several ways to
minimize this effect:
• Ensure that the media being used meets all of the specifications
provided in the HP LaserJet Printer Family Print Media Guide, in
particular the smoothness and wax pick.
• A lighter density setting will ensure that the toner image will be
composed of less plastic material, thus minimizing the resulting
effect of trying to fold the toner image.
• For the reasons listed earlier, a more narrow, character-stroke width
might also help.
• Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) paper might fix toner
cracking problems (see also the HP MICR User’s Guide).
In photocopier (laser) printing, using media that has a laid finish often
causes problems. The surface roughness of the media is often
responsible for the problems.
Media that is stiffer than photocopier paper also causes problems. Stiff
media does not fold well. Problems increase when stiff media is folded
and a toner image is applied to the media’s surface.