Nowadays, the commonly used printers, fax machines, and ticket printers all use thermal paper. This has led to a growing market for thermal paper, but it has also resulted in the appearance of many counterfeit thermal paper products on the market!
So, how can we tell the quality of thermal paper? Here's a simple science lesson for everyone.
How to tell the difference between good and bad heat-sensitive paper?
Appearance: High-quality thermal paper should have even coloring and clear images. The paper is not too white because it is made from wood pulp, and the base paper is natural wood color. On the other hand, counterfeit thermal paper will appear very white, indicating that the paper protection and thermal sensitive coating are not properly applied, and too much fluorescent agent has been added. If the paper has strong reflective properties, it also indicates that too much fluorescent agent has been added.

2. Roasting: The method of roasting with fire is quite simple. Use a lighter to roast the back of the thermal paper. If after heating, the color on the paper is not evenly distributed, it means that the formula of the thermal paper is not reasonable or unqualified, and the storage time will be shortened. If there are stripes or uneven colors on the black parts of the paper, it indicates that the coating is uneven. Good-quality thermal paper will show even color distribution and flatness after being roasted by fire, which means long color-preserving period, slow volatilization, and soft color display.

How to Tell the Quality of Thermal Paper

3. Sunlight Contrast: When you print out thermal paper and use a fluorescent pen to write on it, and then place it under the sun, the paper that turns black the fastest indicates the shortest preservation time!
The quality and performance of heat-sensitive paper should be judged according to its intended use. Generally, it can be evaluated from the following aspects:
1. Appearance: Good thermal paper has no impurities, good smoothness, and no obvious roughness when touched. It looks uniform through the light.
2. Color display: High color density and clear text are one of the main performance characteristics of thermal paper.
3. Preservation: Low-quality thermal paper has a very short preservation period, while good thermal paper usually retains the ink for 2 to 3 years. Special thermal paper has a preservation performance of over 10 years. If it can still be clearly visible after being exposed to direct sunlight for a day, it is considered quite good.
4. Protection Performance: For some applications such as labels and receipts, good protection performance is required. It can be tested on thermal paper by applying water, oil, hand cream, and so on.
5. Print Head Adaptability: Poor-quality thermal paper has a greater impact on the print head, causing it to wear more quickly and become easily stuck. You can check the print head to see this.
6. Environmental protection performance: If there is a need for environmental protection, heavy metals, bisphenol A, and fluorescent whitening agents need to be tested. To determine if there is fluorescent whitening agent, one only needs to look under a currency detector. The rest need to be tested by professional institutions.