NZ277218A - Producing smart card: plastic moulded onto uv printed plastic substrate - Google Patents

Description

New Zealand No. 277218 International No. PCT/CH94/00243 Priority Date(a): Compteta Specification Filed: .£3 Class: (0) .^.bV^3.Ls£li Ba^5.3R].»o Publication Date: ...,...."2.. 9.JAW.1997. P.O. Journal No: NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION Title of Invention: Process for producing printed smart cards Name, address and nationality of applicant(s) as in international application form: AUER, HANS, a Swiss citizen of Lettenstgrasse 8, CH-8126 Zumikon, Switzerland 1 METHOD FOR PRQDTJPTNG PRINTED SMART CARDS 27 7 2 1 8 The present invention relates to a method for producing printed smart cards according to claim 1. A smart card is a credit card, which can be produced in a particularly advantageous manner and consequently also has a disposable character .

Hitherto various printing processes have been used for printing plastics, such as screen, flexographic, pad and gravure printing. These processes have been more particularly used due to their good drying characteristics. Particularly in the case of screen, flexographic and gravure printing highly volatile solvents are used, such as benzene derivatives and the like. This leads to a disadvantage of such processes, because such solvents cannot be used in an unobjectionable manner and for maintaining the maximum permitted work place concentrations, in general costly exhaust air systems or ventilation plants must be used.

In addition, offset printing processes are known, which now constitute the most widely used processes throughout the world and are widely used due to the printing quality and efficiency for the printing of brochures, jobs and packs. The ultraviolet or UV offset process uses UV inks, which contain a photoinitiator and are crosslinked following application by using UV. Thus, there is no need for a solvent. This process is mainly suitable for printing surfaces made from non-absorbent materials, particularly plastics.

The problem of the invention is to propose a process for producing printed smart cards, which supplies by means of a UV procedure a rough printed product, which is prepared and placed in a mould, where it is further processed to a prir^t^d smart card. 2 27 7 2 1 8 An object of the present invention is to solve this and other problems.

The present invention provides a process for producing printed plastic cards wherein printed labels are produced, and at least one of said printed labels is fed into a mold, and the mold is subsequently filled with a plastic which combines with said at least one label to form a card which is printed on the side of said at least one label, and the printed card is finally taken out of said mold, characterised in that for producing said labels an extensive plastic substrate is printed with UV curable inks, said printed substrate is subsequently exposed to UV light to cure said printed inks, and said printed substrate is processed to separate printed labels.

Preferably, two printed labels are fed into said mold, and said plastic is filled in between said two printed labels.

Preferably, said plastic substrate is printed by means of offset printing. Preferably, said printed substrate is processed by means of punching.

Preferably, for said punching, a punching tool is used which has the final format of the card to be produced.

Preferably, said plastic substrate is a film with a thickness between 20 and 150 (.im.

Preferably, said plastic substrate is a film with a thickness between 50 and 100 (.im.

Preferably, a film in roll form is used, said roll material is cut into sheets and in this way is supplied in stack form to a printing press.

Preferably, said plastic substrate and for said filling of said mold plastics are used which belong to the same group of plastics or nre,iri(T>ntjrnl Preferably, said plastic substrate is msKhr from acryroinjrile/butadiene/styrene 27 7 2 18 Preferably, said pkstic for filling said mold is injected into said mold.

Preferably, said plastic card is a smart card, wherein said .plastic card is * » ;provided with a window during said process, and wherein an electronic circuit in the form of a chip is inserted into said window of said finished card. ;The process according to the invention is explained in greater detail with reference to the flow chart or the single drawing, which shows the general steps used. For the description of the different process steps the reference numerals of the flow chart are used, where they are given for the subdivision of the individual steps. Embodiments thereof are described in examples 1 to 3. ;The single drawing shows the flow chart for a process for the production of printed smart cards, described in greater detail hereinafter relative to the steps 1 to 6. ;1. Printing with UV Inks ;The starting point for the process is a plastic substrate, which generally comprises a film or sheet material, which is usually available in roll form. The usable plastics are acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene (ABS), polycarbonate (PC), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polystyrene (PS) and the like, used in thicknesses of 20 to 150 jim and typically 50 to 100 |im. The roll material is cut into sheets and in this way is supplied in stack form to an offset printing press. The inks used are so-called ultraviolet inks for wet and dry offset. ;2. Drying ;Following the printing process the printed sheet or printed film material is dried in known manner, which e.g. takes place by means of UV sources. Following drying a printed, rough printed product is available. ' ;Processing ;27 7 2 1 8 ;The rough printed product, which is e.g. in the form of a sheet with multiple uses, is now punched or cut, so that the desired end product format is obtained. For example, the punching tool can be chosen in such a way th^t it already has the final format of a credit card, including the tolerances required thereon in accordance with ISO standards 7810 and 7816. Following this processing step a prepared printed product, also called a label, in final format form exists. ;AntP the MQUlfl ;With the prepared printed product a mould is now formed, which can e.g. be an injection mould and this can take place in single or double manner, independently of whether the requirement is to produce a smart card printed on one or two sides. ;5. In-iectinq Mould. Blowing. Deep-Drawina ;In an injection moulding, blowing or deep-drawing process a second plastic is applied in such a way that the latter is moulded, blown or deep-drawn on the inserted printed product or products. Thus, the rough printed product and the applied, second plastic form a composite. The choice of this second plastic is based on the plastic substrate used in step 1. Advantageously it belongs to the same group of plastics and ideally is identical to the plastic substrate. The prerequisite for being suitable is the processability, i.e. the labels must have an adequately good adhesion to the smart card. It has surprisingly been found that in this way a high strength composite material is obtained, which fulfils all the requirements made on a smart card, such as the breaking strength, elasticity and dimensional stabil:^^s=F==Ka^pm the quality standpoint this smart card is equivalent t&^the ;oil 2 1 8 ;5 ;hitherto known credit cards, but is superior thereto with respect to the speed of its "production ayi^l the cost structure. Following the removal of the product from the mould a printed smart card exists, in which generally a window is provided for the chip. ;6. Inserting the Chin ;In the aforementioned window is now inserted the chip, which takes place in known manner by sealing, bonding or melting in, which need not be described in detail here. Obviously, in place of a chip, it is possible to insert a magnetic tape or strip, or some type of programmable information carrier. Now a finished, printed smart card is available, which only needs programming. ;The process described with steps 1 to 6 makes it possible to save important operations, because there is no longer any need for a card blank, which in a second step must be printed or provided with labels. The aforementioned process to a certain extent constitutes a reverse process, in that the printing process takes place first and the voluminous cards are produced on demand in an injection moulding, blowing or deep-drawing process. A further advantage results from the fact that for a smart card printed on both sides, moulding thereof can take place in one step on the labels. In the hitherto known processes, starting from a card blank, it was necessary to have a first printing process for the front and then a second printing process for the back, which requires complicated handling and is obviated in the process according to the invention. ;The process has the particular advantage that the smart cards produced in this way are recyclable when the same or similar plastics are used for the plastic substrate and the secor r f o plastic, because they comprise a monomer composite. V-0 ;s ;J ;tl ;* £ C 27 7 2 1 8 Example 1 describes the production of a smart card starting from a 80 p thick ABS film. Roll material of an 80 pm thick--ABS film. Roll material of an 80 ym thick acrylonitrile/ butadiene/styrene film (Kunststoffwerk Staufen (KWS) , Germany) with a width of 1 m is cut to 50 x 35 cm sheets. These sheets are printed with UV inks (SICPA, Lausanne, Switzerland) using an offset printing press (Miller TP 74) with UV offset'printing plates and 4,500 prints/hour. The printed sheets are then dried with UV lamps at 3 x 120 W/cm2. Using an eroded punching tool on a Busch punch press the labels were punched out to give them their final format. The prepared printed products are now applied pairwise to the inside of an injection mould. Injection moulding takes place at 280°C with ABS (KWS, Germany) . After removing the product from the mould a chip (Siemens) is inserted therein giving a smart card printed on both sides.

Example 2 describes the production of a smart card starting from a 100 pm thick polycarbonate film. Roll material of a 100 ym thick polycarbonate film (General Electric, USA) with a width of 1.5 m is cut to 50 x 35 cm sheets. These sheets are printed in two steps with UV inks (Amra, Lachen, Switzerland) using an offset printing press (Miller TP74) with UV offset printing plates and 3,000 prints/hour. Following the first two inks, there was an intermediate drying with UV lamps of 2 x 70 W/cm2 , the final drying takes place after printing with the remaining inks at 3 x 120 W/cm2. Using an eroded punching tool on a Busch punch press the labels were punched out with their final format. The thus prepared printed product or label is now individually applied to the inside of an injection mould. Injection moulding takes place at 160°C with rigid PVC. After removing the product from the mould a chip (Philips) is inserted therein, giving a smart card printed on one side.

Example 3 describes the production of a smart card starting from a 80 um thick polystyrene film. Sheet utaluijAal with the t W T dimensions 70 x 100 cm of a 80 pm thick ra£feystyrene^£ilm (Dow r , 6 DEC 7 27 7 2 1 8 Chemical, USA) are printed with UV inks (Zeller Gmelin, . Germany)- using an offset ^printing press (Miller TP74) wi-th UV offset printing plates and 5,000 prints/hour. The printed sheets are then, dried with UV lamps at 3 x 120 W/cm3. Using an eroded punching tool on a Busch punch press the labels are punched out of their final format. The prepared printed products are now brought pairwise onto the inside of an injection mould. Injection moulding takes place at 310°C using ABS (KWS, Germany) . After removing the product from the mould a chip (Philips) is inserted therein, giving a smart card printed on both sides.

It is essential to the invention that a plastic substrate is printed with UV inks in a UV offset printing process to labels and then dried. The labels are prepared and placed in a mould, where they are processed with a second plastic to a composite. This is followed by the insertion of a chip, so as to produce a smart card printed on at least one side, without requiring a blank in the normal sense. This interesting process is used for. smart cards in in mould labelling (IML) .

Claims (13)

8 27 7 2 1 8 WHAT I CLAIM IS:-

1. A process for producing printed plastic cards wherein printed labels are produced, and at least one of said printed labels is fed into a mold, and the mold is subsequently filled with a plastic which combines with said at least one label to form a card which is printed on the side of said at least one label, and the printed card is finally taken out of said mold, characterised in that for producing said labels an extensive plastic substrate is printed with UV curable inks, said printed substrate is subsequently exposed to UV light to cure said printed inks, and said printed substrate is processed to separate printed labels.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein two printed labels are fed into said mold, and said plastic is filled in between said two printed labels.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein said plasiic substrate is printed by means of offset printing.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein said printed substrate is processed by means of punching.

5. The process according to claim 4, wherein for said punching a punching tool is used which has the final format of the card to be produced.

6. The process according to claim 1, wherein said plastic substrate is a film with a thickness between 20 and 150 pm.

7. The process according to, claim 6, wherein said plastic substrate is a film with a thickness between 50 and 100 pm.

8. The process according to claim 6 or claim 7, where orm is used, said roll material is cut into sheets and in this way is s to 27 7 2 1 8 a printing press.

9. The process according to claim 1, wherein for said plastic substrate and for said • filling of said mold plastics are used which belong to the same group of plastics or are identical. ,

10. The process according to claim 9, wherein said plastic substrate is made from acrylonitrile/butadiene/styrene (ABS), and said mold also is filled with ABS.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein said plastic for filling said mold is injected into said mold.

12. The process according to claim 1, wherein said plastic card is a smart card, wherein said plastic card is provided with a window during said process, and wherein an electronic circuit in the form of a chip is inserted into said window of said finished card.

13. A process for producing printed plastic cards, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawing. HANS AUER. by his authorised agents, PL BERRY & ASSOCIATES.