Carbonless paper is quite common in our daily lives. You may use it both at home and in the workplace. With carbonless paper, you can achieve quick duplication, making task workflows run smoothly. In this blog, we will explain in detail what carbonless paper is and how it works. We will also provide specific methods for printing carbonless paper and other related knowledge to help you use it more conveniently.
Table of Contents:
- What is Carbonless Paper
- How does the Carbonless Paper Work
- How to Print on Carbonless Paper
- Advantages of Carbonless Paper
- FAQs about Carbonless Paper
What is Carbonless Paper
We will explain what carbonless paper is by covering its invention, colors, and sizes.
1. Carbonless paper was invented in 1954 by chemists Lowell Schleicher and Barry Green at the American company National Cash Register(NCR). Therefore, carbonless paper is sometimes referred to as “NCR Paper” (it also represents no carbon required paper). Due to its advantages such as biodegradability and minimal environmental impact, carbonless paper has become an alternative to carbon-based copy paper.
2. Typically, a set of carbonless copy paper consists of two or three sheets. Moreover, manufacturers use different colors to distinguish them, with most being white, light yellow, and pink. These sheets collectively form the carbonless copy paper, enabling duplication without ink.
3. Common carbonless paper sizes include the following:
- Letter: 8.5 inches × 11 inches. This is one of the most widely used sizes, suitable for most everyday office and business document printing.
- Legal: 8.5 inches × 14 inches. This size is often used for legal documents, contracts, and other documents requiring more vertical space.
- Half Letter: 5.5 inches × 8.5 inches. This size is half the dimensions of Letter paper and is suitable for creating smaller documents like memos and receipts.
- Ledger/Tabloid: 11 inches × 17 inches. This size is often used for documents requiring more space to display information, such as reports.
Carbonless paper is typically bound into books. If you’d like to learn about the production process of carbonless books, please watch this video:
How does the Carbonless Paper Work
Carbonless paper works through chemical reactions and pressure. To understand the working principle of carbonless paper, it is necessary to learn its composition. The most common set of carbonless copy paper consists of three types of paper. Specifically:
- Coated Back (CB) paper — Top Layer:
Only the back side of the paper is coated with a layer containing colorless dye microcapsules.
This is the sheet you write or print directly on. When pressure is applied by a pen or printer needle, these microcapsules burst. - Coated Front and Back (CFB) Paper — Middle Layer:
The CFB paper is coated with a color developer on the front side and colorless dye microcapsules on the back side (same as CB paper). After the microcapsules in CB paper burst, a colorless solvent leaks out and reacts chemically with the developer in CFB paper, thereby revealing clear images and text.
Positioned between the top and bottom layers, it receives the color development reaction from the top layer and transfers it to the next layer. - Coated Front (CF) Paper — Bottom Layer:
The CF paper is only coated with a color developer layer on the front side. It is the final sheet, used to receive and fix the final copy image.
The simplest carbonless paper set consists of only two layers ( including CB paper and CF paper). You can also achieve more layers of carbonless copying by increasing the number of CFB paper.
How to Print on Carbonless Paper
The carbonless paper you purchase is typically blank. When used for fixed-purpose forms (such as delivery notes, receipts, etc.), some content may be duplicated. You can customize the content by printing on the carbonless paper, making carbonless copying more convenient. This process can be handled by the carbonless paper supplier or done by yourself. Below are the relevant videos and specific steps for printing carbonless paper.
1. Prepare a Design
- You can use software such as Photoshop or Microsoft Word for design purposes.
- The design size should be determined based on your carbonless paper dimensions.
- Ensure sufficient margins (at least 0.5 inches) to prevent the content from extending beyond the paper edges.
- Keep your design simple. Overly dense text or lines may cause blurring on underlying layers.
- Save the design as a PDF file and send it to your printer.
2. Choose a Right Printer:
- Since carbonless paper requires pressure to transfer copies, dot matrix printers are best suited for printing on it. Inkjet printers can only leave designs on the top layer of carbonless paper. Meanwhile, the pressure from laser printers is insufficient to clearly develop the image on the sheets. Additionally, the high temperatures generated by laser printers may damage the chemical coating on carbonless paper.
- To adapt to modern printing technology, carbonless laser paper was developed. This specialized carbonless paper is compatible with laser printers, meeting the needs of a broader user base.
- Therefore, if you purchase standard carbonless paper, you must use a dot matrix printer. If you have carbonless laser paper, you can choose to print using a laser printer.
3. Determine the Feeding Direction
- Draw a symbol on a plain sheet of paper.
- Load the paper with the symbol into the tray. Remember whether the symbol is on the front or back side.
- Send the design to the printer and select single-sided printing.
- After printing, check if the design is on the same side as the symbol. If they are on the same side, you loaded the paper correctly. If not, you need to change the loading direction.
4. Load Carbonless Paper
- Align the carbonless paper, ensuring each sheet lies flat without creases or wrinkles. Gently pinch the edges of the paper and lightly separate each layer. This ensures proper separation between layers, allowing the print head to operate smoothly.
- Place the carbonless copy paper into the printer’s paper feed tray, ensuring it is oriented correctly.
- Adjust the printer’s paper tray to ensure the paper is placed flat and level, preventing paper jams or misalignment caused by uneven placement.
5. Adjust Printer Settings
- You need to adjust the paper-thickness setting based on the number of carbon copies. Refer to your printer manual for specific parameters. Note that you should typically turn off the printer before adjusting the paper-thickness setting.
- Select “Properties” or “Preferences” and set the paper type to “Plain Paper”.
- Select the “Monochrome” or “Black&White”, as carbonless paper is primarily used for monochrome printing.
- If your printer supports it, select the “Bold” mode or “Enhanced Printing” for better print results.
- After completing the setup, click “Start Printing”.
- Before batch printing, you can perform a test print first. This allows you to detect errors promptly and make adjustments.
6. Apply Glue to Carbonless Paper
- Neatly stack all printed copies in order.
- Gently shake the stack to align the edges of the papers.
- Place the stack at the edge of the table. At this point, the area to be coated with adhesive (typically the top surface of the carbonless paper) must be aligned with the edge of the tabletop.
- Place heavy objects (such as books) on top of the stack of paper.
- Shake the glue well, then dip a clean brush into it.
- Carefully apply the glue from the center to both sides with a brush, ensuring it penetrates to 1/8 inch on both sides of this back.
- Let the stack of paper sit for about an hour to allow the glue to dry.
- Move the heavy objects and gently spread out the carbonless sets. Lastly, you obtain customized carbonless paper that is ready to use.
Advantages of Carbonless Paper
- High-Quality Copying: Through technological innovation, carbonless paper employs specialized carbonless copying technology. This achieves superior copying results to meet diverse requirements.
- Environmentally Friendly: Utilizing a unique surface coating technique, carbonless paper production avoids harmful pollutants, making it a genuinely eco-friendly product.
- Long Service Life: Special coating treatments during production enhance paper quality, ensuring superior copy clarity and extended durability.
- Time-Saving Copying: Carbonless paper requires only a single writing session to achieve duplication, eliminating the cumbersome multiple-copy process of traditional carbon paper and effectively saving time.
FAQs about Carbonless Paper
H3: 1. How to store carbonless paper?
Carbonless paper exhibits relatively stable performance and can be stored directly in folders or paper bags. However, humid environments may cause reduced adhesion between sheets. And prolonged exposure to sunlight can result in poor print quality. Therefore, it is necessary to store them in a dry location away from direct sunlight.
2. How long does carbonless paper last?
When stored properly, unused carbonless paper has a shelf life of approximately 2 years. The clarity of images on used carbonless paper can be maintained for about 15 to 25 years.
3. What types of content is carbonless paper suitable for?
Carbonless copy paper is suitable for duplicating simple text, monochrome images, and similar content. It is commonly used for invoices, receipts, contracts, forms, and other situations requiring multiple copies.
Conclusion
The advent of carbonless paper has revolutionized the cumbersome and inconvenient process of traditional carbon copying. This innovation has made carbonless copying more efficient, cleaner, and environmentally friendly. Despite the growing prevalence of digital technology, carbonless paper continues to play an irreplaceable role across numerous fields due to its multiple advantages. Understanding the fundamentals of carbonless paper can help you utilize it more effectively.
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