Carbonless copy paper or NCR (no carbon required) is an alternative to carbon paper. It is used to make a copy of an original, handwritten document without the use of any electronics. Carbonless copy paper was developed as a biodegradable, stain-free alternative to carbon paper.

Carbonless copy paper works in a fairly simple way. It consists of sheets of paper which are coated on the bottom and/or the top with micro-encapsulated dye or ink and/or a reactive clay. This can be easily seen in the figure to the right.

The back of the first sheet is coated with micro-encapsulated dye. The top of the middle sheet is coated with a clay which reacts quickly with the dye to form a permanent mark the back is also coated with the dye. The lowermost sheet is coated on the top surface with the clay and no coating is applied on the back side.

When the sheets are written on, the pressure from the point of the writing instrument causes the micro-capsules to break and spill their dye. Since the capsules are so small, the print obtained is very accurate.

Around fifteen pages can be copied using one sheet of carbonless copy paper.

External links

Carbonless Copy Paper Injury and Information Network