JP2003159774A - Card - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a card, designed considering its disposal, and is free from the generation of a curl in the embossed card and also hazards such as hydrogen chloride and dioxine during incineration after the use of the card. <P>SOLUTION: In the card wherein an emboss 14 processing is applied to its card substrate which is obtained by laminating a heat resistant sheet layers 12 composed of polymer alloy comprising amorphous polyester and polycarbonate on both surfaces of a heat resistant white core sheet layer 11 composed of polymer alloy comprising the amorphous polyester and polycarbonate, a curl preventing layer 13 of resin is formed at least on the bottom surface (bottom face in the embossed protrusion) in the emboss region of the heat resistant white core sheet layer 11 or the heat resistant sheets 12. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information recording medium used for cash cards, credit cards, ID cards (identification cards), membership cards, prepaid cards, etc. Or even if the card shape is not deformed or the material does not change even if it is exposed to high temperature in in-vehicle applications that may be stored or in home appliances such as computers, etc. Furthermore, discard these cards when they are used up. It's about cards that are made easier.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, cards of the magnetic recording medium type have been widely used in the fields of cash cards, credit cards, ID cards, etc., and their materials are mainly polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin and vinyl chloride. -A vinyl acetate copolymer is used, and a polyvinyl chloride resin is generally used. Polyvinyl chloride resin is excellent in physical mechanical properties and embossability of characters, and is still widely used as the most suitable material as a card material.

However, in recent years, the range of use of the card is not limited to the fields such as the cash card, the credit card, and the ID card, but is spread to various fields, and the function thereof is a contact type IC module other than the magnetic recording medium. Information on IC cards embedded in base materials, IC cards with magnetic stripes, non-contact IC cards with antennas and IC modules, antennas and IC modules, non-contact IC cards with magnetic stripes, and reversible thermosensitive recording materials There are various types such as a reversible thermosensitive recording card incorporated as a recording layer, a card obtained by arbitrarily combining them, or a card having all of them. Applications include electronic wallets, commuter passes, telephone cards, licenses, in-car cards, etc., and the materials used for such cards include flexibility, scratch strength, tensile strength, etc. High reliability including strength, storage characteristics, heat resistance, chemical resistance, etc. is required. Furthermore, polyvinyl chloride resin (PVC)
Has a problem in that when it is discarded after use, hydrogen chloride gas is generated particularly during incineration to damage the incinerator and shorten its life. Moreover, although the relationship with dioxin has not been clarified, in this respect, the movement of PVC removal is becoming active in countries such as Germany and Northern Europe, and in the field of building materials and industrial materials in Japan as well. It is in that flow.

A general method for producing a magnetic card is to print on a white vinyl chloride (PVC) substrate by a known printing method such as offset printing, gravure printing, screen printing,
After laminating highly transparent PVC sheets on both sides, transfer the magnetic tape and heat fusion with a heating press machine to produce PV
The C-base laminate and the magnetic tape are integrated and punched with a mold of a predetermined size to form a card. The thermal transfer type magnetic tape (magnetic stripe) is raised from the card surface after transfer and has a step, but it is embedded by thermal fusion with a heating press machine and manufactured so as to be flush with the card surface.

By the way, the condition of the card surface is JISX.
6301-1998 Section 9.2.2 defines as follows. "In areas B other than area A shown by ..., there should be no bends, irregularities or ridges on both sides of the card that obstruct the contact between the magnetic head and the magnetic stripe."

The role of the magnetic tape in the magnetic card is
It is to record the unique data that an individual has and to read or write the unique data when using it. Therefore,
If this magnetic tape is not flush with the card surface,
When the card is carried or repeatedly used by a reader / writer, the edge portion of the magnetic tape may be damaged or missing, resulting in an unusable magnetic card that does not play the role of the magnetic tape. Therefore, it is a condition that the material has physical properties such that the card surface and the magnetic tape surface are flush with each other when the magnetic tape is processed.

However, one of the disadvantages of the physical properties of the polyvinyl chloride resin that has been generally used as a card material to date is that it has low heat resistance. Generally, polyvinyl chloride resin is softened at about 60 ° C. and deforms, and thus is not suitable for applications in a high temperature range, such as home appliances and in-vehicle applications. Furthermore, card materials other than polyvinyl chloride resin are required due to disposal problems and the flow of PVC removal activities.

Therefore, there is an idea to use a halogen-free thermoplastic resin such as polyethylene resin, polypropylene resin, polyester resin, polycarbonate resin, or polyacrylic resin as a card material. It is possible to use these resins alone as a card like polyvinyl chloride resin, but the physical properties as a card, especially JI
Since it is inferior to polyvinyl chloride resin in the specified value of the card in the S standard, a card material having physical properties satisfying the standard is required.

If a plastic material considering heat resistance, for example, polycarbonate is used as a card material,
When the card is embossed, the surroundings of the embossed portion are also pulled and deformed by the deformation of the embossed portion, causing a problem that the card is greatly distorted and curled. When a card is formed using a resin with a high elastic modulus such as polycarbonate and embossed, the convex part remains as a permanent strain, but the force around the character to return to the original card shape as an elastic deformation is generated. It works and is pulled, which causes distortion (curl), but according to the present invention, the printed portion on the back surface is stretched to reduce the distortion, and thus curl is reduced.

Here, the permissible amount of emboss curl in the magnetic card is JIS X6301-1998 8.1.
It is specified as follows in Section 12. "When the embossed card before distribution is placed on the surface plate with the convex part facing up, the maximum value from the flat surface of the surface plate to any part of the surface on the convex side that is not embossed is the thickness of the card. It should not exceed 2.5 mm inclusive "

[0011]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems. Instead of a polyvinyl chloride resin as a base material for a card for heat resistant use, an amorphous polyester and a polycarbonate are used. In a card formed by laminating a heat-resistant sheet layer having high heat resistance made of a polymer alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate on both sides of a heat-resistant white core sheet layer made of a polymer alloy of It is an object of the present invention to propose a card that does not occur and does not have the problem of hydrogen chloride or the problem of dioxin when it is incinerated after use, and in consideration of disposal.

[0012]

In order to achieve the above object in the present invention, first, in the invention of claim 1, both sides of a heat-resistant white core sheet layer made of a polymer alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate are provided. In a card in which a heat resistant sheet layer made of an alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate is laminated on a card base material, the heat resistant white core sheet layer or the back surface of at least the embossed area of the heat resistant sheet (embossed The card is characterized in that a curl preventing layer made of resin is formed on the bottom surface of the convex portion.

The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that the card base material has an information recording means comprising at least one of a magnetic recording layer, an IC module and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer. It is a card.

In the invention of claim 3, the amorphous polyester is a copolymer of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, a copolymer of terephthalic acid and cyclohexanedimethanol and ethylene glycol, or terephthalic acid and 1,2. The card according to claim 1, which is one of copolymers with 4-butanediol.

The invention according to claim 4 is the card according to claim 1, wherein the curl prevention layer has a dry film thickness of 2.5 μm or more.

Further, the invention of claim 5 is characterized in that the heat-resistant white core sheet and the heat-resistant sheet layer made of a polymer alloy of the amorphous polyester and the polycarbonate are formed into sheets by an extrusion method. It is the card described.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a card substrate in which a curl prevention layer (13) is formed on a white core sheet layer (11) of the present invention, (a) is a plan view, and (b) is XX line. FIG. 3C is a schematic cross-sectional view of a portion of the section, and FIG. Further, FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a card base material in which the anti-curl layer (13) is formed on the heat resistant sheet layer (12), (a) is a plan view, and (b) is an XX line portion. Schematic structural sectional view, (c) shows the schematic structural sectional view of the YY line part.

The amorphous polyester in the present invention means
A polyester having an ester bond in the main chain of its constituent molecule, for example, polyethylene terephthalate, which can be produced by copolymerizing terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, and polybutylene terephthalate, terephthalic acid and 1,4- It can be produced by copolymerizing butanediol. It can also be obtained by copolymerizing ethylene glycol with cyclohexanedimethanol and terephthalic acid, and the crystallinity and glass transition temperature can be controlled by changing the mixing ratio of the ethylene glycol and cyclohexanedimethanol. become.

Then, these amorphous polyester resins are melt-kneaded with polycarbonate to form a polymer alloy. A heat-resistant white core sheet layer of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate can be prepared by adding a compatibilizer or adding a filler, a filler, a release agent, a reinforcing agent, etc., at the time of alloying. make. A desirable mixing ratio of polyester and polycarbonate for the card base material of the present invention is 9: 1 to 5: 5, preferably 8: 2 to 6: 4. The heat-resistant sheet layer (12, 12) is a heat-resistant polyester sheet containing an ester bond in the main chain of the constituent molecule, and is a polymer alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate, like the heat-resistant white core sheet layer. ,
Usually, a transparent outer sheet layer is used, so that a white filler is not used.

A curl prevention layer (13) provided on the back surface of the embossed area (bottom surface of the embossed protrusion) in the present invention.
The resin used for is preferably a flexible and highly stretchable resin so as to relieve stress during embossing, and examples thereof include thermoplastic polyacrylic acid ester resin, chlorinated rubber resin, vinyl chloride-vinyl acetate copolymer resin, and cellulose resin. , Thermoplastic resins such as chlorinated polypropylene resin, epoxy resin, polyester resin, nitrocellulose resin, styrene acrylate resin, polyether resin, polycarbonate resin, vinyl resin, and acrylic resin having reactive hydroxyl group Polyisocyanate is added as a cross-linking agent to polyols, polyester polyols, etc., and cross-linked urethane resins, melamine-based resins, etc., or a mixture thereof can be dissolved in a solvent and printed as a coating liquid (ink). If so, it is not limited to these resins.

As a printing method, a known printing method such as a gravure printing method, a screen printing method, an offset printing method or the like can be used. However, when the printing thickness is thin, the distortion at the time of embossing cannot be alleviated, and therefore the thickness is set. 2.5
μm or more is desirable. Further, it is also possible to form by a thermal transfer method after printing once on a polyester film even if it is not directly printed on the substrate.

Next, as a card manufacturing method using the card base material of the present invention, there is a melt laminating method using a heating press machine. In the melt laminating method, transparent protective sheets are laminated on both sides of a printed substrate, but the types of protective sheets on both sides may be different. The melt laminating method is a method in which a card material is integrated by sandwiching it with a mirror surface plate having a size larger than that, and then by heating and melting press.

The mirror plate used at this time may be a nickel-chromium-plated copper plate, a surface-polished stainless plate, a surface-polished aluminum plate, or the like. Also,
The printing on the substrate can be performed by the same method as in the case of paper or a plastic film, that is, a known printing method such as an offset printing method, a screen printing method, a gravure printing method or the like can be used to print a character or a pattern.

After the melt lamination, the card material is peeled off from the mirror surface plate and punched into a card shape by punching with a single-edged or male-female die to obtain a card base material. For example, a magnetic recording layer can be provided on this card base material, and a conventionally used thermal transfer type magnetic tape can be transferred onto one or both sides of the card base material, or a magnetic recording layer can be directly applied to the card base material. A method of printing the recording layer is used. Then, after it becomes a card shape, the embosser embosses the floating letters, and the letters are applied to the letters by a thermal transfer foil to colorize it, encode the magnetic information in the magnetic recording layer, or in some cases, a facial photograph or Finish the card by transferring the barcode etc. Further, a protective layer may be provided for the purpose of improving the resistance against abrasion of the characters and the pattern print layer.

FIG. 2 schematically shows a cross section of a portion where floating characters are formed by the embosser of FIG. 1A.

[0026]

EXAMPLES Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to Examples of the present invention. <Example 1> PETG [manufactured by Eastman Chemical Co., Ltd.], which is an amorphous polyester having a thickness of 540 μm, and a white polymer alloy sheet (21) of polycarbonate [manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc., PG-WHT (trade name)]. Then, the pattern printing layer (22) is applied to the surface corresponding to the surface by the offset printing method.
And a character printing layer (23) is applied to the back surface by offset printing, and then a curl prevention layer (24) [manufactured by Jujo Chemical Co., Ltd., 9000PET] with a film thickness of 2.5 μm when dried is further provided by screen printing. Magnetic tape (25)
, A transparent alloy sheet of amorphous polyester PETG and polycarbonate [manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics,
PG-CHT (trade name)] having a thickness of 100 μm and a transparent heat-resistant sheet layer (26) are stacked on both sides, sandwiched between stainless steel plates with smooth surfaces, and heat-bonded at 140 ° C. for 30 minutes to cool and solidify. After that, it was punched out into a card shape to prepare a card of Example 1 having a sectional structure as shown in FIG.

Example 2 White polymer alloy sheet (21) of PETG [manufactured by Eastman Chemical], which is an amorphous polyester having a thickness of 600 μm, and polycarbonate.
[PG-WHT (trade name) manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics Co., Ltd.] is provided with a pattern printing layer (22) on the surface corresponding to the front surface by an offset printing method, and a character printing layer (23) on the surface corresponding to the back surface.
Magnetic tape (25)
, A transparent alloy sheet of amorphous polyester PETG and polycarbonate [manufactured by Mitsubishi Plastics,
PG-CHT (trade name)] having a thickness of 100 μm and a transparent heat-resistant sheet layer (26) are stacked on both sides, sandwiched between stainless steel plates with smooth surfaces, and heat-bonded at 140 ° C. for 30 minutes to cool and solidify. After that, a curl prevention layer (24) [9000 PET, manufactured by Jujo Chemical Co., Ltd.] having a film thickness of 2.5 μm when dried was formed on the surface corresponding to the back surface by a screen printing method, and punched into a card shape. After that, IC chip (2
The surface was scraped off so that (7) would be buried, and an IC chip was adhered to produce a card of Example 2 having a sectional structure as shown in FIG.

<Comparative Example 1> Comparative Example 1 which is the same as Example 1 except that the curl preventing layer is not provided on the back surface.
Card was made.

The heat resistance, light resistance, and chemical resistance required for the card of Comparative Example 1 were the same as those of Examples 1 and 2, but the physical properties of the polycarbonate appeared as they were, and the card was embossed. However, as a result of being pulled and deformed around the embossed character portion as well, the card was greatly curled and greatly exceeded the JIS standard value of less than 2.5 mm. There were few and it was within the standard.

[Amount of emboss curl (mm)] Example 1 ... 2.28 Example 2 ... 2.13 Comparative Example 1 ... 3.09

As described above, the card of Comparative Example 1 had a problem that the elastic deformation rate of the base material itself was large, and the strain deformation during embossing was so great that it could not be used. The magnetic cards 1 and 2 have excellent heat resistance. For example, they will not be deformed even if they are placed in a car in the midsummer in any shape, and even if the card is embossed, it will not be embossed except the embossed part. No curling occurs without deformation due to pulling. Furthermore, since no vinyl chloride resin is used, it can be said that the card has extremely excellent disposability even if it is incinerated after use. .

In this embodiment, the magnetic recording medium using the magnetic tape is used, but instead of this, a non-contact type IC card or a reversible thermosensitive recording medium may be used.

[0033]

As described above, since the card of the present invention has high heat resistance, it can be used in a high temperature environment without deformation of the card shape, and the card does not curl due to embossing. It can replace the cards currently used. Furthermore, the card will be free from problems of hydrogen chloride and dioxin when it is used and incinerated, and will be a card considering disposal.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates a card of the present invention,
(A) is a plan view, (b) is a sectional view taken along the line X-X,
(C) shows the structural cross-sectional view of the YY line part, respectively.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embossed portion of FIG. 1 (a).

FIG. 3 illustrates another card of the present invention,
(A) is a plan view, (b) is a sectional view taken along the line X-X,
(C) shows the structural cross-sectional view of the YY line part, respectively.

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Card 11 ... Heat-resistant white core sheet layer 12 ... Heat-resistant transparent sheet layer 13 ... Curling prevention layer 14 ... Embossed letters 20 ... Card 21 ... White polymer alloy sheet 22 ... Pattern printing layer 23 ... Character printing layer 24 ... Curling prevention layer 25 ... Magnetic tape 26 ... Transparent heat-resistant sheet 27 ... IC chip

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F term (reference) 2C005 HA10 HA21 HB01 HB03 HB04                       HB05 HB09 HB13 HB20 JA02                       JA08 JA15 JA25 JA26 JB02                       JC02 KA03 KA06 KA15 KA27                       LA03 LA11 LA18 LA20 LA30                       LA41 LB04 LB18 MB01 MB02                       MB08 MB10 NA02 NA06 PA04                       PA14 PA21 QB03 QC12 RA04                       RA10 RA11                 4F100 AK41A AK41B AK41C AK41J                       AK41K AK45A AK45B AK45C                       AK45J AL01A AL01B AL01C                       AR00D BA10B BA10C EH172                       EJ39D GB90 JA11A JA11B                       JA11C JJ03 JJ03A JJ03B                       JJ03C JL04D JL10A JL16                       YY00D                 5B035 AA08 BA05 BB02 BB04 BB09                       CA03

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A card substrate comprising a heat-resistant white core sheet layer made of a polymer alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate, and a heat-resistant sheet layer made of a polymer alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate laminated on both surfaces of the heat-resistant white core sheet layer. A card subjected to embossing, characterized in that a heat-resistant white core sheet layer, or a curl prevention layer made of a resin is formed on at least the back surface (bottom surface at the embossed convex portion) of the embossed area of the heat-resistant sheet. 2. The card according to claim 1, wherein the card base material has an information recording means including at least one of a magnetic recording layer, an IC module, and a reversible thermosensitive recording layer. 3. The amorphous polyester is a copolymer of terephthalic acid and ethylene glycol, a copolymer of terephthalic acid and cyclohexanedimethanol and ethylene glycol, or a copolymer of terephthalic acid and 1,4-butanediol. The card according to claim 1, wherein the card is any one of copolymers. 4. The anti-curl layer has a dry film thickness of 2.5 μm.
The card according to claim 1, wherein the card is m or more. 5. The card according to claim 1, wherein the heat-resistant white core sheet layer and the heat-resistant sheet layer made of a polymer alloy of amorphous polyester and polycarbonate are formed into a sheet by an extrusion method.