Title
Weight loss phenomenon of paper and the mechanism for negligible damage of heatinduced inkless eco-printing
Authors
JUAN XIE JINXIANG CHEN YONG WANG YUFU LIU MOHAMMAD N. NOORI and LE PAN

Received February 4, 2013
Published Volume 48 Issue 5-6 May-June
Keywords paper, cellulose, hemicelluloses, pyrolysis, printing, eco-material

Abstract
To eliminate the environmental pollution caused by the toxic and hazardous materials used in ink or laser jet printing, the authors have previously proposed a concept of heat-induced inkless eco-printing (HIEP), which is inspired by the yellowing discoloration of plant fibers. Based on the experimental studies on the thermogravimetry (TG) of paper, the yellowing of paper via heat-induction and a simulated printing test, the weight loss phenomenon of paper and the mechanism for the negligible damage to paper during HIEP are discussed. The paper lost weight drastically below 600 °C. However, this loss could be easily controlled by monitoring the temperature and heating time. No significant damage to the paper was evident upon HIEP as the degree of heat experienced during HIEP is far below that of the TG experiment; additionally, the evaporated water had a buffering effect. This study shows that the HIEP technology has valuable potential for practical applications.