Liquid toners Liquid toners are composed of a suspension of pigmented or dyed resin particles in an insulating liquid. The liquid process involves washing or spraying the electrostatic image with this dispersion. Liquid toner particles are significantly smaller than dry toner particles and usually contain acrylic resin combined with carbon black. Images formed from liquid toners penetrate and colour the paper fibres, unlike dry toners, which adhere to the paper surface. Liquid toner images cannot easily be removed from the surface of the paper.
Liquid toner has some limitations.
Even though the liquid carrier is fast drying, it does not evaporate instantly. Hence liquid-based systems work at about half the speed of the equivalent dry toner system. Images formed from the liquid process are also prone to fading. Colour toners Colour toners are commonly based on organic dyes, which are subject to fading and known to change colour. Xerographed documents that are to be retained long term should be made using dry toners containing pigments of known stability and on archival quality papers.