Tech Shout!

Xerox Corp. has announced that their groups of scientists have devised a way to make prints whose images last only a day, so that the same paper can be used a number of times. The experimental printing technology, known as ‘erasable paper,’ is a joint venture by the Xerox Research Center of Canada and PARC (Palo Alto Research Center Inc. It basically blurs the line between paper documents and digital displays and could lead to a significant reduction in paper use.

Xerox hopes that the experimental printing technology could someday replace printed pages that are used for just a brief time before being discarded. Xerox estimates that as many as two out of every five pages printed in the office are for what it calls “daily” use, like emails, Web pages and reference materials that have been printed for a single viewing.

“Despite our reliance on computers to share and process information, there is still a strong dependence on the printed page for reading and absorbing content. Of course, we would all like to use less paper, but we know from talking with customers that many people still prefer to work with information on paper. Self-erasing documents for short-term use offers the best of both worlds,” said Paul Smith, manager of XRCC’s new materials design and synthesis lab.

Xerox has filed for patents on the technology, which it calls “erasable paper”. At present the technology is part of a laboratory project that focuses on the concept of future dynamic documents.

To develop erasable paper, the company said its researchers needed to identify ways to create temporary images. The breakthrough came from developing compounds that change color when they absorb a certain wavelength of light, but then will gradually disappear. In its present version, the paper self-erases in about 16-24 hours and can be used multiple times.

While scientists at XRCC are working on the chemistry of the technology, their counterparts at PARC are considering ways to build a device that could write the image onto the special paper. PARC researchers developed a prototype “printer” that creates the image on the paper using a light bar that provides a specific wavelength of light as a writing source. The written image fades naturally over time or can be immediately erased by exposing it to heat.

Eric Shrader, PARC area manager, industrial inkjet systems said, “While potential users have shown interest in transient documents, there is still much to be done if the technology is to be commercialized. “This will remain a research project for some time.” Shrader added, “Our experiments prove that it can be done, and that is the first step, but not the only one, to developing a system that is commercially viable.”