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SimitriHD Toner

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Konica Minolta's exclusive Simitri™ polymerised toner technology is used to enhance the printing quality of monochrome & colour MFPs (Multi Function Products), and printers. Because Simitri toner particles are smaller with uniform shape, image reproduction delivers fine lines and small text with clear contours. Photos and illustrations are reproduced more naturally with improved half-tones. By including wax in the toner, oil-less fixing has been realized, bringing vivid colours. Furthermore, the manufacturing process of Simitri toner is environmentally friendly, reducing the generation of CO2, NOx, and SOx by approximately 40%. Simitri toner is acclaimed as the next-generation toner for the digital era.

* Simitri is the trademark for Konica Minolta polymerised toner.

With Simitri toner, fine lines and small text are clearly reproduced, and photos and illustrations have smoother gradation of half tones. Due to the particles being small and of uniform shape, Simitri toner reproduces text without jagged contours, and produces prints with brilliant sharpness. Its quality is most noticeable when making generation copies. Vivid colours close to that of the original silver-halide photo prints are obtained.

Clear and vivid colour reproduction is achieved, conforming to the JAPAN COLOR*² standard which has a wide gamut.

*1 Gamut means a specified range of colour. It also determines a colour range where specified input/output devices such as monitors and printers can display and print within, respectively. The gamut that ordinary monitors can reproduce is argued to be smaller than that recognized by the human eye. The gamut reproduced by process-printing ink is even smaller than that of the monitor. *2 JAPAN COLOR standard has been established to unify the offset printing colours in Japan. Similar standards can be found in USA (SWOP), and in Europe (Euro Standard).

With normal commercial printing ultraviolet rays sometimes fade yellow colours. Prints using Simitri toner, however, are resistant to these ultraviolet rays and therefore colour quality is preserved.

*Simulated effects of sustained ultraviolet ray irradiation equal to several years' period.(Based on tests carried out by Konica Minolta)

By including wax in the toner manufacturing, oil-less fixing has been realised. This makes it unnecessary to apply silicon oil to the heater during the fixing process, thus eliminating the "white-line noise" that is caused by dust adhered to the optical system by the vapour from the oil. And, as image glare that is usually caused by oil is eliminated, you get clean images without blur and oily stains. This means you can also use ballpoint pens to write on the prints, or put labels on them. Furthermore, as there is no need to refill oil, the life of the fixing unit is prolonged, which enhances machine reliability and facilitates maintenance.* With Konica Minolta's special polymerisation method, the cohesion and fusion of particles and colour pigments make it possible to contain a large amount of wax evenly, resulting in a polymerised toner that enables oil-less fixing.

By making the particles smaller and uniform in shape, toner fixing can be achieved at a much lower temperature, preventing paper curling or jamming during the finishing process. Less paper curl means thinner binding of prints to be stapled or stitched, even in large quantities regardless of thickness.

During the fixing process that requires a higher fixing temperature, thick paper absorbs heat, thereby, lowering the fixing temperature. When fixing can occur at a lower fixing temperature the process is not degraded, thus, allowing you to use a wider range of paper thickness. Even thin paper that would normally wrinkle very quickly is far less likely to suffer these effects because the fixing pressure can be lowered.

Compared to the conventional pulverized toners, manufacturing of Simitri toner requires less energy, and contributes to environmental preservation, reducing by 40%, the generation of CO2, NOx or SOx that cause greenhouse gases, and acid rain.

In the polymerisation method, minute resin particles in approximately 100 Nanometer (1/10.000th of 1 mm) are synthesized by emulsification, and then chemically condensed and fused with colour pigments. The merit of this method is the easy production of smaller and more uniformly shaped particles for the polymerised toner.