Cycolor is a tradename for a

color printing Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color (as opposed to simpler black and white or monochrome printing). History of color printing Woodblock printing on textiles preceded printing on paper in both Ea ...

process that uses a special film coated with millions of capsules filled with

cyan Cyan () is the color between blue and green on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 500 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue. In the subtractive color system, or CMYK c ...

magenta Magenta () is a purple-red color. On color wheels of the RGB color model, RGB (additive) and subtractive color, CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between blue and red. It is one of the four colors of ink used in colo ...

, or

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In t ...

dye Juan de Guillebon, better known by his stage name DyE, is a French musician. He is known for the music video of the single "Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical ele ...

precursors, acrylic monomer, and photo-initiators. When exposed to red, green, and/or blue light, the contents of the respective capsules polymerize imagewise, and therefore become hard and unbreakable. The film is then pressed against specially treated paper that will complete the dye molecule, and the capsules that have not hardened in the previous process break, releasing their contents onto the paper. Cycolor was developed by Mead Imaging, a start-up created and funded by Mead Corporation, in the 1980s in

Miamisburg, Ohio Miamisburg ( ) is a city in southern Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 19,923 at the 2020 census. A suburb of Dayton, it is part of the Dayton metropolitan area. Named after the Miami people, Miamisburg is known for its ...

. It was based partially upon the same technology as carbonless paper, which has largely been rendered obsolete. Although the technology was very successful, the cost was significantly higher than the then emerging toner-based or ink-based systems seen today for color printing.

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See also