The waste toner powder for laser toner cartridge can be remanufactured。Above all, the waste toner powder must be disposed by cleaning, drying and selecting. Then according to the conventional toner processing, the material including waste toner will be melt mixed, grinded. Classified and additive blended. The new variety toner after remanufactured can be used for laser printers or copiers, whose quality is as excellent as the original toner powder.
1. Introduction
The waste toner is the remainder in the laser print cartridge or the copier cartridge, it can pollute the environment greatly. The granule monomer, whose diameter is in the range of 1-10 microns approximately, can not be seen by human, but can be absorbed into one's lung from breathing.It is harmful to people's health. Supposing one waste cartridge remains 20 grams to 80 grams toner, there will be 6000 tons powder coming into the atmosphere every year. It would pollute the atmosphere and the groundwater because since the waste toner powder in the recycle cartridge was burned off or buried underground previously.
2. Characteristic of the Waste Toner Powder
The basis of the original toner powder is upwards of 70% in the waste toner and analyzing. Having picked out these toner powders, and analyzed their component , we find that the prescription is departure from the original toner obviously. It makes the waster toner not be used since their charge- to-mass ratio is departure from the optimal value, and their particle size and specific gravity is too small, the image density is inadequate, the background is high.
The waste toner powder remained in the cartridge, which was not transferred onto paper, and scraped down from the drum by the wiper blade. Some of the toner produced physical or chemical pollution , while discharging from their physical character, since their particle size, charge-to-mass ratio and weight was so small. Furthermore, the thin funiculi or the appendage of the paper is able to dissolve in the water, and would mix into the toner. Some waste toner powder in the cartridge perhaps had no magnetism or powerful magnetism. Once the powerful magnetic particle collected on the magenetic roller,the magnetic roller would be airproofed, and some toner particle will not be able to develop up to the drum.
3. Remanufacture Technology
3.1 Filtration
The waste polluted toner must be filtrate first Close-meshed sieve with about 200 sieve poles, is used to remove off the sundries, for example, funicli etc.
3.2 Dryness
The waste toner after filtrated must be dried because they contain moisture diversely. Putting the waste toner into vacuum desiccator at about 60℃, for 48 hours, the content of water in waste toner will decrease to less than five in a thousand.
3.3 Dry Cleaning
The waste toner is the mixture of variety toner with same polarity usually, whose granularity is about 1-10 microns , the particle surface particles surface perhaps is enwrapped by contamination. The particles are rubbed each other in the power dryer, and the contamination particle will be apart from the toner particle, There are two methods, rubbing the waste toner particles several abrasives. The abrasive is acted as cleanser now, whose granularity should be less than 3microns or larger than 0.1 millimeters. It may select powder or ball of cerium oxide, alumina , zirconium oxide carborundum , silicon oxide, diamond etc. If the ball of abrasive is selected, it can be used much times.
3.4 Choosing
An flow grader, mechanical grader, impeller grader, inertial grader or cyclone separator are used to separate the cleaned toner particle from the weeny contamination and cleanser to get out the contamination and the particles less than 3 microns.
3.5 Design the Prescription by Adaptive Compensator
The physical parameters of homogeneous waste toner must be measured. The toner particle after cleaning is treated as raw material of production. The prescription is designed according to departure of physial parameter, compared with corresponding physical parameter of standard product. For instance, if the charge-to-mass ratio of the waste toner is too low we can adjust the deal of CCA properly. If the magnetism of the waste toner is too low, we can increase the proportion of magnetism material. According to the experience of original material previously, design of the program and input the parameters of the waste toner, the redeeming prescription will be print out for the waste toner.
3.6 Producing Toner with Conventional Mechanical Technique
The admixture must be mixed fully in high speed blender first, then the mixture will be melted and mixed in running screw melting mixer. Having cooled and solidified, the mixture would be grinded cursorily in hammer muller or air flow muller, then it will be fine grinded in jet mill or mechanical mill. Here the particles are classified by air flowing grader or mechanical grader. Finally the particles will be appended additive, mixed from low speed to high speed, the fluidity of particle would be increased. Ultimately the waste toner is remanufactured completely.
4. Conclusion and Discussion
The waste toner powder for laser toner cartridge is as excellent as the original toner after remanufactured.