In a companion paper, we developed a mathematical model of electrostatic transfer in electrophotography. In that model, we applied the first principle treatment of charge transport to dielectric relaxation in receiving media such as paper during toner transfer. An important conclusion was that the traditional method of predicting the performance of a receiver by its resistivity, assuming an ohmic conduction model, is insufficient. Complete characterization of a receiver requires conditions closely simulating the charge supply and charge transport that occur in the actual electrophotographic process. In this paper, we show that the open circuit measurements of the electrostatic charge decay (ECD) technique provide the necessary conditions for complete characterization. Using the ECD technique with a computerized scanner, we demonstrate that electrostatic non-uniformity in paper can conveniently be mapped. Furthermore, several important print quality metrics, including optical density (which relates to transfer efficiency) and image noise (which relates to uniformity of transfer), can be correlated with ECD voltage and a “characteristic length” (the typical scale of voltage variations) in the electrostatic map.
Ming-Kai Tse, David J. Forrest, Francis Y. Wong, "The Role of Dielectric Relaxation in Media for Electrophotography (II) Imaging Electrostatic Non-uniformity in Paper" in Proc. IS&T Int'l Conf. on Digital Printing Technologies (NIP15), 1999, pp 159 - 163, https://doi.org/10.2352/ISSN.2169-4451.1999.15.1.art00041_1