Can thermal paper be printed with ribbon?

Thermal paper is a special paper that is printed by thermal printing technology. Its surface contains a layer of thermal coating. By heating the print head and contacting the paper surface, thermal sensitive dyes and color generators react to form patterns or characters. Ribbon is another common printing material, which is usually used in conjunction with dot matrix printers to leave imprints on paper through ink, resin and other materials. So, can thermal paper be printed with ribbon?

This is a question worth exploring.

First of all, you need to understand the principle and composition of thermal paper and ribbon. Thermal paper is composed of base paper, thermal coating and protective layer. The thermal coating contains thermal dyes and color generators, which can be chemically reacted to form patterns by heating the print head. The ribbon is a material similar to ink, which is imprinted on the paper by heat or pressure during the printing process.

In actual use, if the ribbon is used for thermal paper printing, the following problems may occur:
1. Unrecognizable: Due to the different principles of carbon ribbon and thermal paper, printing on thermal paper with carbon ribbon may not achieve the expected effect, or even be unrecognizable.
2. Damage to the print head: The material in the carbon ribbon is relatively viscous. If the thermal head is contaminated with the carbon ribbon, it may cause damage to the print head and affect the life and performance of the device.
3. Affect the printing quality: Because the carbon ribbon and the heat-sensitive coating cannot be well combined, problems such as blurring and smudges are prone to occur during the printing process, which affects the printing quality.

To sum up, thermal paper cannot be printed with ribbon. If you need to use a dot matrix printer to print thermal paper, you can choose other types of equipment such as dot matrix printers, and you need to use a specially adapted thermal ribbon. In addition, when choosing thermal paper, its scope of application and performance indicators should also be considered to avoid poor printing results caused by choosing the wrong material.
Generally speaking, thermal paper is different from carbon ribbon in principle and composition, and it needs to be selected and matched according to the actual situation when using it. During the printing process, attention should be paid to the matching of materials and the care and maintenance of equipment to ensure the printing effect and equipment life.