JP2021130262A - Laser color development card - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a card where a card substrate consists essentially of polycarbonate and decorativeness is secured and the color development properties are good while heat resistance is improved, thereby enabling laser printing on an ETC card.SOLUTION: The laser color development card consists of the following laminated in this order: a core layer formed by a core substrate consisting essentially of polycarbonate resin formed in a single layer or multiple layers; a silver solid print layer screen-printed on one side or both sides of the core layer; and a laser color development layer formed by a laser color development substrate consisting essentially of polycarbonate resin that also works as a transparent exterior substrate on the silver solid print layer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5

Description

Regarding a card using a laser color-developing sheet.

As one of the printing methods on the face of a plastic card such as an IC card, laser printing using a laser color-developing base material is used for an ID card for identification. All of these are known to use a polycarbonate base material, but for non-contact IC cards that have a limited heat formation temperature to include the antenna coil, they have a film structure that can be heat-formed at a lower temperature. The one has also been proposed (Patent Document 1 below). For applications to ETC cards that require compatibility with the high indoor temperature environment of automobiles, heat resistance is improved by using polycarbonate as the main component of the entire card, including the core base material. A proposal has been made (Patent Document 2 below).

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2017-024207 JP-A-2018-039269

However, the technique of Patent Document 1 cannot satisfy the heat resistance required for an ETC card. Further, in the technique of Patent Document 2, since the laser color development is a monotonous gray scale, it is necessary to devise to emphasize the contrast and the tint according to the background pattern of the printed portion. Therefore, the layout design and the manufacturing process. Contains complex elements.

Therefore, the present invention has been made to deal with the above problems, and in order to apply laser printing to an ETC card, the card base material is made of a material mainly composed of polycarbonate and has heat resistance. The purpose is to provide a card with good color development while ensuring decorativeness while improving the quality of the product.

The invention according to claim 1 is a means for solving the above problems.
A core layer composed of a core base material mainly composed of a polycarbonate resin composed of a single layer or a plurality of layers, and a core layer composed of a core base material.
On one or both sides of the core layer, a solid silver printing layer by screen printing and
It is a laser color-developing card formed by laminating a laser color-developing layer made of a laser color-developing base material containing a polycarbonate resin that also serves as a transparent exterior base material as a main component on the silver solid printing layer in this order.

The invention according to claim 2 is the laser color-developing card according to claim 1, wherein an anchor layer by screen printing is provided on one surface of the laser color-developing layer.

The laser coloring according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the invention according to claim 3 has a pattern layer sandwiched between the silver solid printing layer and the laser coloring layer. It is a sex card.

Further, the invention according to claim 4 has a pattern layer on the anchor layer.
The laser color-developing card according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising providing a matte-like overcoat transfer foil layer on the pattern layer.

According to the invention of claim 1, since the laser color-developing card is composed of a heat-resistant core layer containing a polycarbonate resin as a main component and a laser color-developing layer containing a polycarbonate resin as a main component, the ETC card is required. Can meet the heat resistant quality specifications.

Further, the solid silver printing layer arranged between the core layer and the laser coloring layer reflects the surplus light of the laser light for printing incident on the laser coloring layer from the outside and returns to the laser coloring layer. Therefore, the color development efficiency is improved as compared with the case without the solid silver printing layer, a higher color development density can be obtained for the same laser light incident energy, and the visibility and expressiveness of printing are improved. Further, since the invasion of the excess laser light into the core layer is suppressed, the temperature rise of the core layer can be reduced, the internal residual stress can be reduced, and the deformation of the card can be suppressed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the anchor layer arranged on the laser coloring layer not only improves the adhesion of the pattern layer printing on the anchor layer, but also greatly improves the chemical resistance. It becomes possible.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, damage to the pattern layer can be suppressed by protecting the printing layer on the back surface of the card with a laser coloring layer that also serves as an exterior material.

According to the invention of claim 4, by providing a matte-like transfer foil layer on the surface of the card, the ETC card has less unevenness on the surface, yet has mechanical strength. A feeling of luxury can be given.

Sectional drawing of the card in 1st Embodiment. Sectional drawing of the card in 2nd Embodiment. Sectional drawing of the card in 3rd Embodiment. Sectional drawing of the card in 4th Embodiment. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a card provided with an IC module in addition to the fourth embodiment. The graph which shows the improvement of color development efficiency in Example 1. FIG. The table which shows the chemical resistance improvement in Example 2.

Hereinafter, each embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

<Embodiment 1>
FIG. 1 shows the cross-sectional structure of the laser color-developing card according to claim 1. Silver solid printing layers 12a and 12b are formed on both sides of the heat-resistant core layer 11 containing polycarbonate as a main component by screen printing, and a laser coloring layer 13a made of a laser coloring base material containing polycarbonate as a main component is further formed on the outside thereof. By forming the core layer 11 and the laser coloring layer 13a, the solid silver printing layer 12a is sandwiched between the core layer 11 and the laser coloring layer 13a, and the solid silver printing layer 12b is sandwiched between the core layer 11 and the laser coloring layer 13b.

The thickness of the core layer is preferably 500 to 700 μm. The thickness of the laser coloring layer is preferably 50 to 200 μm. It is necessary that the thickness of these layers is finally within a range in which the thickness of the entire card including the other layers does not exceed the standard maximum value of 840 μm.

The solid silver printing layer and the laser coloring layer may be formed on only one side of the core layer, but from the viewpoint of stress adjustment for maintaining the flatness of the card and for ensuring the decorativeness of the back surface, the core layer may be formed as in the present embodiment. It is preferable to arrange them on both sides. Further, an adhesive may be sandwiched between the laser coloring layer 13 and the solid silver printing layer 12.

According to the present embodiment, since the card base material contains polycarbonate as a main component, heat resistance is high, and the silver solid printing layer 12 exists between the core layer 11 and the laser coloring layer 13, so that the incident laser light is lasered. Since it is effectively used in the color-developing layer 13, a laminated body having higher color-developing efficiency can be realized.

<Embodiment 2>
FIG. 2 shows the cross-sectional structure of the laser color-developing card according to claim 2. An anchor layer 14 is formed by screen printing on the front side of the laser color-developing layer 13, or on the upper surface of the laser color-developing layer 13a in the figure.

According to this embodiment, not only the adhesion of printing of patterns and characters in the fourth embodiment described later can be improved, but also the chemical resistance can be significantly improved.

<Embodiment 3>
FIG. 3 shows the cross-sectional structure of the laser color-developing card according to claim 3. Before forming the laser coloring layer 13b on the back side in FIG. 1 and on the lower side in the figure, the pattern layer 15 for patterns and characters is formed on the lower surface of the solid silver printing layer 12b. Examples of the printing method include offset printing, screen printing, flexographic printing, and gravure printing.

According to the present embodiment, damage to the pattern layer 15 can be suppressed by protecting the pattern layer 15 on the back surface of the card with a laser coloring layer 13b that also serves as an exterior material.

<Embodiment 4>
FIG. 4 shows the cross-sectional structure of the laser color-developing card according to claim 4. Here, the inventions of all the claims are applied. A picture layer 16 of a picture or a character is provided on the anchor layer 14 formed in FIG. As the printing method, the same offset printing, screen printing, flexographic printing, gravure printing and the like may be used. After forming the pattern layer 16, an overcoat transfer foil layer 17 is provided on the pattern layer 16. Further, in order to make the card surface matte, a surface roughness 18 of Ra (arithmetic mean roughness) = 0.5 to 0.7 μm is provided on the surface of the overcoat transfer foil layer 17.

According to this embodiment, damage to the pattern layer 16 on the surface of the card can be suppressed, and the card can be given a high-class feeling by the decorative effect given by the matte-like overcoat transfer foil layer 17.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional structure of an ETC card provided with an IC module 19 having a contact-type external terminal for connecting the laser color-developing card 10 shown in FIG. 4 to an external terminal including an ETC on-board unit.

Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of each of the above-mentioned members will be described.

<Core layer>
The core layer 11 contains an amorphous resin as a main component. The core layer 11 is, for example, white. The main component of the core layer 11 is a component having the highest content among the components constituting the core layer 11, and for example, a component having a content of 50% by mass or more in the core layer 11. Specifically, the core layer 11 preferably contains polycarbonate or a polymer alloy of polycarbonate and amorphous polyester as a main component. Amorphous polyester and polycarbonate are examples of amorphous resins. Examples of the amorphous polyester include a copolymer of terephthalic acid and cyclohexanedimethanol and ethylene glycol, a copolymer of terephthalic acid and isophthalic acid and ethylene glycol, polyethylene terephthalate and polybutylene terephthalate. The polymer constituting the core layer 11 may be crosslinked with isocyanate or the like.

Further, talc or silica may be added to the material for forming the core layer 11 in order to adjust the fluidity during molding, and in order to improve the whiteness, the material for forming the core layer 11 may be added. Titanium dioxide may be added.

<Laser coloring layer>
The laser coloring layer 13 contains an amorphous resin as a main component and has a laser coloring property of irreversibly coloring by being irradiated with laser light. The main component of the laser coloring layer 13 is a component having the highest content among the components constituting the laser coloring layer 13, and for example, a component having a content of 50% by mass or more in the laser coloring layer 13. be.

The main component of the laser coloring layer 13 contains, for example, carbon as a component having laser coloring property. Then, the laser color-developing layer 13 generates heat due to the absorption of the laser light, and carbonization is generated by the heat, so that the laser color-developing layer 13 is colored black. As the laser, for example, a YAG laser is used.

<Silver solid print layer>
The solid silver printing layer 12 is formed by a silver paste ink prepared for screen printing. It is an object of the silver solid printing layer 12 to reflect surplus light that does not contribute to color development among the laser light incident to develop the color of the laser color development layer.

<Pattern layer>
The picture layer 15 and the picture layer 16 are formed by a printing method such as offset printing, screen printing, flexographic printing, and gravure printing as described above. Examples of the drying method after printing include hot air drying and drying by irradiation with infrared rays or ultraviolet rays.

Dyes and pigments are used to color the ink used for printing. Further, as the pigment, a metal pigment such as aluminum, titanium oxide or brass or a pearl pigment may be used. Examples of the resin contained in the ink include vinyl chloride, vinyl acetate, polyvinyl alcohol, polyester, polyurethane, polycarbonate, acrylic resin, epoxy resin, ABS and its copolymers, and polymer alloys.

When the ink is a solvent-based ink or a water-based ink, hot air drying is performed among the above drying methods, and when the ink is an ultraviolet curable ink, the curing by ultraviolet irradiation is performed among the above drying methods. It should be done.

<Anchor layer>
The anchor layer 14 is a pattern layer 16 formed on the laser coloring layer 13a. Since the adhesion of the printing ink is insufficient for the laser coloring layer 13a containing polycarbonate as a main component, the laser coloring layer and the pattern layer It is laminated as a bonding member having good bonding properties to both of the above.

<Overcoat transfer foil layer>
The overcoat transfer foil layer 17 is formed by a transfer foil in which a transfer layer is formed on a releasable film base material (not shown). The releasable film base material is composed of at least a base film and a releasable layer laminated. The transfer layer is composed of a glossy layer and an adhesive layer laminated on the release layer side of the release film base material, and is a portion to be transferred onto the printing layer 15 and the anchor layer 14. The transfer foil is produced by laminating and coating a release layer, a glossy layer, and an adhesive layer on a base film in this order. The total coating film thickness is preferably 3 μm or less. Further, the overcoat transfer foil layer 17 is provided with a surface roughness 18 on the release layer side in order to obtain a matte (matte) optical property.

The surface roughness 18 can be imparted by the following method. As the releasable film base material, for example, a transfer foil is produced using a biaxially stretched polypropylene film matted on both sides with a surface roughness of Ra (arithmetic mean roughness) = 0.5 to 0.7 μm. As a result, the surface roughness of the base material is transferred to the transfer layer formed on the base material, so that a transfer foil having a surface roughness in advance is produced.

However, the surface roughness 18 is not limited to the above method, and may be applied after the overcoat transfer foil layer is formed by the smooth transfer foil.

<Example 1>
For the first embodiment, the laser color-developing card of the present invention was produced under the following conditions.
(Material) As a core base material, a core sheet having an amorphous polyester resin of about 30 wt%, a polycarbonate resin of about 40 w%, and titanium oxide of about 10 wt% and a thickness of 600 μm is used as a laser color-developing base material, and the component is polycarbonate. A laser coloring sheet having a thickness of 100 μm and a resin of about 80 wt%, a copolymerized polycarbonate of about 10 wt%, and an additive of about 10 wt% was used. For the solid silver printing layer, a silver paste ink for screen printing was used to form a coating film having a thickness of about 2.5 μm. Further, the overcoat transfer foil layer was formed by using a transfer foil to which surface roughness was previously imparted.

(Step) Two types were produced, one in which the solid silver printing layer with silver paste ink was formed by screen printing on both sides of the core sheet, and the other in which the solid silver printing layer was not formed. Then, the adhesive layers coated on both sides of these two types of sheets are sandwiched between the two laser coloring sheets, respectively, heat-pressed under the condition of a press temperature of 140 ° C., and the overcoat transfer foil layer is further laminated. Then, a laminated body for forming a card was obtained. A card was produced by punching this laminate into a card shape with a male and female die.

(Comparison) A laser printing test was performed on each of the card of the first embodiment having the silver solid printing layer thus produced and the card produced as a control group not having the silver solid printing layer to which the present invention was not applied. rice field. The graph shown in FIG. 6 shows the results of comparing the color development densities for each output by changing the incident laser output. The horizontal axis is the laser output, and it becomes higher toward the right. The vertical axis is the color density, and the higher the color density, the higher the color density.

Looking at this, two groups are clearly formed with and without the solid silver printing layer. The one located above is the one with the solid silver printing layer to which the present invention is applied, and the one located below is the one without the solid silver printing layer to which the present invention is not applied. Looking at 0.7, which has the same color development density, the laser output required to develop the density is about 17% with the solid silver print layer and about 30% without the solid silver print layer. It can be seen that the required laser irradiation energy can be reduced by 43% by adding the solid silver printing layer. From this, it was confirmed that by adding the solid silver printing layer, a darker printing density can be obtained with less incident energy.

From the above, according to the invention of the first embodiment, the printing that is incident on the laser coloring layer from the outside by the silver solid printing layer arranged between the core layer and the laser coloring layer, which is shown in the effect of the invention. Since the surplus light of the laser light is reflected and returned to the laser color development layer, the color development efficiency is improved as compared with the case without the silver solid printing layer, and a higher color development density is obtained for the same laser light incident energy. It was confirmed that it could be obtained.

<Example 2>
For the second embodiment, the laser color-developing card of the present invention was produced under the following conditions.
(Material) The same base material as in Example 1 was used.
(Step) The process was carried out in the same manner as in Example 1 until the laser coloring layer was formed, and then the anchor layer according to the second embodiment was screen-printed and the anchor layer was formed as a control group by offset printing. Two groups of things were made. The thickness of each anchor layer is about 1.5 μm. After that, the same procedure as in Example 1 was carried out until the card was produced.

(Comparison) Chemical resistance tests were performed on these two groups of cards. The test conditions were based on JIS standard X6305-1, and the test fuel oil B (mixture of isooctane and toluene by volume 70:30) specified in JIS standard K6258 was used as the immersion chemical. The table shown in FIG. 7 summarizes the poor appearance states of the two types of tests, one in which the immersion time is 1 minute and the other in which the immersion time is 24 hours as the limit test.

In the 1-minute immersion test, there was no change in appearance in either the one using screen printing or the one using offset printing to form the anchor layer, but in the 24-hour immersion test, the appearance was found in the one using screen printing. While no change appeared, the appearance of the one using offset printing changed. From this, it was confirmed that the chemical resistance of the card was improved by the anchor layer formed by screen printing.

From the above, according to the invention of the second embodiment, the anchor layer arranged on the laser coloring layer by screen printing, which is shown in the effect of the invention, only improves the adhesion of printing on the anchor layer. It was also confirmed that the chemical resistance was significantly improved.

10 Laser color development card 11 Core layer 12a Silver solid printing layer (front side)
12b Solid silver print layer (back side)
13a Laser coloring layer (front side)
13b Laser coloring layer (back side)
14 Anchor layer 15 Picture layer on silver solid print layer 16 Picture layer on anchor layer 17 Overcoat transfer foil layer 18 Surface roughness 19 to produce matte tone 19 IC module

Claims (4)

A core layer composed of a core base material mainly composed of a polycarbonate resin composed of a single layer or a plurality of layers, and a core layer composed of a core base material.
On one or both sides of the core layer, a solid silver printing layer by screen printing and
A laser coloring card formed by laminating a laser coloring layer made of a laser coloring base material containing a polycarbonate resin that also serves as a transparent exterior base material as a main component on the silver solid printing layer in this order. The laser color-developing card according to claim 1, wherein an anchor layer by screen printing is provided on one surface of the laser color-developing layer. The laser color-developing card according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a pattern layer is sandwiched between the silver solid printing layer and the laser color-developing layer. A pattern layer is provided on the anchor layer.
The laser color-developing card according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising providing a matte-like overcoat transfer foil layer on the pattern layer.

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