Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/24—Ablative recording, e.g. by burning marks; Spark recording
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M3/00—Printing processes to produce particular kinds of printed work, e.g. patterns
  • B41M3/14—Security printing
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F3/00—Labels, tag tickets, or similar identification or indication means; Seals; Postage or like stamps
  • G09F3/02—Forms or constructions
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
  • G09F3/00—Labels, tag tickets, or similar identification or indication means; Seals; Postage or like stamps
  • G09F3/02—Forms or constructions
  • G09F3/0291—Labels or tickets undergoing a change under particular conditions, e.g. heat, radiation, passage of time
  • G09F3/0292—Labels or tickets undergoing a change under particular conditions, e.g. heat, radiation, passage of time tamper indicating labels

Definitions

• the changeable medium consists of a carrier layer made of plastic, into which a
• Laser irradiation optically changing additive such as copper hydroxide hospnate
• European patent application EP 0 645 747 A2 discloses a label material which can be laser-etched and which has a first layer and a second layer optically different from the first layer. The two layers are applied to the two sides of a transparent carrier layer. The first layer is removed directly by means of laser radiation in accordance with a desired text or print image which makes the surface of the second layer visible
• a film that can be inscribed with a laser is known.
• the known film does not have a contrast layer.
• the contrast to the layer that can be ablated by the laser beam is achieved in the known film after the same has been applied by attaching it to an object Use of the known film is very limited, since it can only be used on objects which have a contrasting color
• the present invention aims at a label which, when inscribed with the laser beam, produces practically no health-threatening and environmentally harmful emissions
• the present invention has for its object to provide a label labeled with a laser beam, which has a great intrinsic protection of
• the present invention aims at a label which, despite its simple structure, opens up flexible and diverse application possibilities to the end user
• the label labeled with a laser beam has a microscopic label in addition to a macroscopic label.
• Microscopic labeling means a pattern or typeface that cannot be resolved with the naked (healthy) eye.
• the symbols or characters preferably have one
• a label has proven to be particularly advantageous which has a protective film which is permeable to the laser beam and on which a medium which can be changed or changed by the laser beam is arranged, the medium changed by the laser beam having at least one opaque one partially ablated the laser beam and additionally has at least one contrast-forming layer largely resistant to the laser beam.
• Ablatable is to be understood here as a layer that is removed or destroyed by the action of the laser beam, so that it loses its opacity
• a film which can be labeled with a laser beam is provided, which can be produced quickly and inexpensively, that is to say by means of a small amount of lamination, and can be easily further processed with a high level of product quality, the end user despite the simple structure of the
• the final Consumers can, for example, obtain the film according to the invention as a raw material, as it were by the meter, and process it further as labels, if necessary, i.e. label it with a laser, cut it to the desired size and possibly provide it with an adhesive layer.
• the film for To prepare the end-user's purposes on the manufacturer's side, that is, to provide them with a self-adhesive layer and / or to punch them out in a desired size and / or to label them, which can be supplemented by the end consumer, for example, by adding a serial number the protective film is protected and the end user does not have to deal with the time-consuming process of straining or flaming the protective film
• the opaque layer which can be ablated by the laser beam, is enclosed between the protective film and the contrast-forming layer, practically no health-threatening and environmentally harmful emissions are produced when the label is written on with the laser beam, the label providing great intrinsic protection of the typeface against chemical and mechanical Offers stresses
• the ablatable layer is preferably a predominantly metallic layer, since such a layer is particularly suitable for processing with a laser beam
• the layer can be given a specific color by the choice of metal or metal alloy
• the metallic layer is a metallization which has been evaporated onto the protective film
• the metallic layer can contain at least one hologram.
• the metallic layer can also have a color. It has been shown that With such a film, the lettering becomes particularly sharp. Aluminum in particular has been retained as metal.
• the metal can be vapor-deposited or sputtered on
• the ablatable layer has a thickness of approximately 3 ⁇ m and is therefore particularly suitable for drafty ablating with the laser beam
• the layer has a thickness of only 0.1 ⁇ m to 0.4 ⁇ m, ie a quarter of the wavelength of a component of the visible light, and thus produces a color effect due to the interference effect, which changes sensitively during laser beam treatment
• the contrast-forming layer is advantageously applied to the metallic layer, be it, for example, by printing or by painting
• the contrast-forming layer has several areas of different colors, so that a multi-colored lettering of the film can be produced in a simple manner
• the contrast-forming layer is at least one film which is preferably colored and / or which is usually made of plastic, preferably of polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ), consists
• an adhesive layer can be arranged at least in places on the side of the contrast-forming layer facing away from the metallic layer, which preferably has a coloration and / or is expediently covered with a carrier material, preferably an adhesive-repellent carrier film
• Protective film which is permeable to the laser beam and on the underside of which a medium which can be changed by the laser beam is arranged, is transparent and / or consists of plastic, preferably polyester, acrylate, polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyester is particularly suitable
• a cover section is arranged on the protective film, which, for example, protects the protective film from soiling during a production process and which can then be removed
• Figure 1 A label according to the invention, which is labeled with a laser beam
• FIG. 2 A detail from Figure 1 on an enlarged scale
• Figure 3 A film that can be labeled with a laser beam
• Figure 4 Another embodiment of a film that can be labeled with a laser beam
• Figure 5 Another embodiment of a film that can be labeled with a laser beam
• Figure 6 shows a layer of the film of Figure 3 in plan view
• Figure 7 A labeled film in plan view
• FIG. 8 A fourth exemplary embodiment of a film that can be labeled with a laser beam
• FIG. 9 shows a partial view of the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 8 in plan view
• FIG. 1 shows a label 3 according to the invention. It bears a machine-readable bar code 37 and a lettering 38 in plain text graphic elements and inscriptions, which of course exist in reality with such a label, are omitted for the sake of clarity of illustration
• the label 3 has been produced using a laser 1, which is, for example, a carbon dioxide laser or a neodymium-YAG laser.
• the laser 1 was used not only to label the label but also to cut out its edges For this purpose, the laser beam was controlled by the computer unit 8 and guided by the deflection unit 7 over the label 3 to be treated
• the laser was also used to produce a microstructure in the lettering.
• the first letter (S) of the lettering 38 consists of a series of the word "original”, as shown in the enlarged illustration of the first letter (S) of FIG.
• Lettering 38 shows The size of the font chosen for the word "original” is smaller than 300 microns, so that it can not be detected with the naked eye and usually also by an ordinary scanner. Also in the other picture elements and writing elements, such as Similar microstructures can of course be hidden in the bar code 37 of the label
• the laser 1 In order to use the laser 1 both for cutting the label and for macroscopic and microscopic labeling, it is equipped with a controllable variable mode diaphragm, with the aid of which it can be switched between the three operating modes, controlled by the computer unit 8
• the laser 1 emits the laser beam 2, which passes through a transparent protective film 31 which is transparent to the laser beam 2 and which is made of plastic, such as, for example, acrylate, polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), preferably polyester.
• the protective film preferably has a thickness of approximately 25 ⁇ m
• a medium 32 which can be changed by the laser beam 2 and which has a metallic layer 321, for example a metallization vapor-deposited on the protective film 31, and a contrast-forming layer 322 has at
• the metallic layer is preferably an aluminum layer that is evaporated onto the protective film 31 and that is evaporated to such a thickness (preferably about 3 ⁇ m) that it is opaque and thus blocks the view of the contrast-forming layer.
• the contrast-forming layer 322 is preferably around a layer of printing ink, preferably flexographic printing ink, which was printed onto the metallic layer with a preferred application weight of 6 g / m 2.
• the metallic layer is sealed by the contrast-forming layer 322, ie enclosed between the protective film 31 and the contrast-forming layer 322, so that no harmful emissions can escape to the outside during laser treatment
• the metallic layer 321 is ablated by the action of the laser beam, i.e. it disappears at the points at which the laser beam 2 acts on it.
• a sharply contoured labeling of the film 3 takes place at a point which is clearly recognizable to an observer at the points at which the metallic layer 321 evaporates due to the action of the laser beam 2 and thus partially provides a view of the Contrast-forming layer 322 is released.
• the finest metal droplets, which are deposited after the metallic layer has evaporated, are practically imperceptible and in no way disturb the description. It is crucial that the structure of the layer is destroyed
• the metallic layer 321 is made sufficiently thin, the action by the laser beam 2 can be kept very short in time, so that neither the protective film 31 nor the contrast-forming layer 322 are impaired in any way, in particular a significant one Material discharge by aerosol formation can be reliably avoided in this way, so that both the protective film 31 and the contrast-forming layer 322 are at most extremely negatively affected during the inscription process with the laser beam 2
• the contrast-forming layer 322 is a colored film which usually consists of plastic, preferably of polyethylene (PE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
• an adhesive layer 33 is arranged on the side of the contrast-forming layer 322 facing away from the metallic layer 321, which is covered with an adhesive-repellent carrier film 4
• the film 3 shown in FIG. 3, which can be labeled with a laser beam 2 can be produced quickly and inexpensively, that is to say by means of a few layers of lamination, and is easy to process with a high level of product quality, the end user being able to use flexible and diverse applications despite the simple structure of the film 3
• FIG. 4 shows a film 3 according to the invention which can be labeled with a laser beam and which is constructed similarly to the film shown in FIG. 3.
• a colored adhesive layer 34 which is resistant to laser radiation acts here as a contrast-forming layer.
• the contrast-forming layer 322 shown in FIG. 1 and the adhesive layer are to a certain extent into a single layer, namely the adhesive layer 34, combined in FIG. 4
• Figure 5 shows a further embodiment of the film according to the invention.
• FIG. 5 differs from the embodiment of FIG. 3 in that a cover section 5 that is transparent to the laser beam is fastened on the protective film 31.
• a layer 6 made of a removable transparent adhesive is used to fasten the cover section 5.
• An edge region 5a of the cover section 5 is free of adhesive This adhesive-free edge area 5a serves as a removal aid when removing the cover section 5
• a label punched out of the film according to the invention, as shown in FIG. 5, can be attached to an object, such as, for example, an engine housing, by means of its adhesive layer 33 in the context of an automated production process.
• the laser beam not only the protective film 31, but also the cover section 5 and the adhesive layer 6 largely unaffected.
• the cover section 5 together with the color layer (not shown), which has deposited on this during the painting process , removed, for which purpose it is gripped on the adhesive-free edge region 5a.
• Other types of cover sections known per se can of course also be provided
• the cover section can be provided with imprints (which cannot be seen in the drawing), which can be, for example, an instruction manual. It is important that the spectral absorption range of the material from which the imprint is made does not match the frequency of the laser beam to keep the absorption of the laser beam as low as possible
• the contrast-forming layer 322 of the label shown in FIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 6.
• the contrast-forming layer 322 which has been applied by printing, has a plurality of regions 322a, 322b, 322c of different colors. In this way, fonts can be made in different colors.
• FIG. 7 which shows a top view of the labeled label, the label has been provided with three drawstrings, the colors of which correspond to the colors of the regions 322a,
• 322b and 322c correspond, as indicated by the choice of the same hatching in FIGS. 4 and 5. In this way, a very attractive label can be created with a laser in different colors using very simple means.
• FIG. 8 shows a further embodiment of the film according to the invention.
• the film 3 consists of two laminated partial films 35 and 36.
• the first partial film 35 has a transparent layer 351 made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is vapor-coated with metallic aluminum on one side (in FIG. 6 on the “lower” side), so that an aluminum layer 352 forms there.
• PET polyethylene terephthalate
• Aluminum layer 352 has a thickness such that it is opaque, ie that light in the visible area cannot penetrate this layer.
• the aluminum layer 352 is covered with a layer of a transparent pressure sensitive adhesive 353
• the second partial film 36 has a layer of white polyethylene terephthalate (PET) 361, which is printed with a layer of flexographic printing inks 362. As shown in the exemplary embodiment in FIG. 6, the print can have areas of different colors (not shown in the sectional view in FIG. 8) detect)
• PET polyethylene terephthalate
• the second surface of the white PET film 361 is coated with pressure-sensitive adhesive 363.
• this layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive 363, the film composite adheres to a carrier film 364, which has an adhesive-repellent smooth layer, so that the separation between the layer of pressure-sensitive adhesive 363 and the carrier film 364 is effortless is possible
• the partial foils 35 and 36 are laminated together, whereupon labels are punched out as shown in FIG. 8.
• the punching is carried out in such a way that the carrier foil 364 is not punched through
• FIG. 8 is characterized by a particularly simple, inexpensive production, since the second partial film 36 is a commercially available film and the first partial film 35 can be produced without great effort
• the contrast-forming layer consists of the white PET layer 361 in conjunction with the layer of flexographic printing inks 362
• FIG. 8 differs from the embodiments described above essentially by the interposition of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 353, which has proven to be particularly advantageous from the point of view of production technology.
• the partial film 35 once produced can, for example, be easily combined with a second partial film 36, for example to select one corresponding background color
• FIG. 8 shows the partial film 36 in a top view
• Security punchings 365 are selected such that numerous circular segments 366 result in the top view.
• the partial film 36 will split Circular segments 366 of the partial film will adhere to the substrate, while the remaining parts of the partial film 36 can be removed from the substrate.
• the film 3 is therefore irretrievably damaged and can no longer be attached to another object without the damage being apparent thus be effectively avoided
• security punching with the circular pattern shown
• security punching with any other pattern can also be used.
• Picture symbols, letters and lettering can also be used for this
• the security punchings 365 also extend through the layer of flexographic printing inks 362, these are felt and visible as slight bumps on the transparent layer 351. This may be desirable in some applications, for example when the security punchings 365 in in the form of a company logo
• the security punchings only extend through the film 361 and the adhesive layer 363, but not through the paint layer 362, the slight unevenness caused by the security punchings can pass through the paint layer

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• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
• Laser Beam Processing (AREA)
• Making Paper Articles (AREA)
• Thermal Transfer Or Thermal Recording In General (AREA)
• Nitrogen And Oxygen Or Sulfur-Condensed Heterocyclic Ring Systems (AREA)
• Heat Sensitive Colour Forming Recording (AREA)
• Encapsulation Of And Coatings For Semiconductor Or Solid State Devices (AREA)
• Radiation-Therapy Devices (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (2)

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ID=7630774

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (5)

Cited By (1)

Families Citing this family (13)

Family Cites Families (3)

• 2000
  • 2000-02-12 DE DE10006377A patent/DE10006377A1/de not_active Ceased
• 2001
  • 2001-02-10 AT AT01913611T patent/ATE304202T1/de not_active IP Right Cessation
  • 2001-02-10 WO PCT/DE2001/000524 patent/WO2001059745A1/fr active IP Right Grant
  • 2001-02-10 AU AU39170/01A patent/AU3917001A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-02-10 EP EP01913611A patent/EP1224650B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-02-10 DE DE50107357T patent/DE50107357D1/de not_active Expired - Fee Related

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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