UA81253C2 - Security element for documents, method of its production (variants) and document with this security element - Google Patents

Abstract

Security element (1) for documents in general, in particular banknotes, security cards and the like, comprising a support layer (2) having, at least on one face, a continuous layer of metallic material (3), wherein said continuous layer of metallic material (3) comprises at least one zone (10) having a reduced thickness of metal with respect to surrounding portions so as to be visually distinctive from the surrounding portions or vice versa.

Description

The invention relates to a security element for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like.

As you know, in order to prevent forgery of banknotes and documents in general, a method is widely used today, which consists in placing some tapes that can be inserted into the mixture of paper from which the document is made, and these tapes can be completely inserted into the paper or partially placed in paper, i.e. have some parts inside and some parts outside the paper.

Usually, these tapes are made of a carrier layer of flexible and transparent plastic material, on which metal layers, magnetic elements, printed micro-images, fluorescent elements, magnetic codes and the like are placed.

Also, in order to enable official and ordinary users to verify the authenticity of documents, the tapes are improved in the direction of providing the ability to immediately and easily establish the authenticity of the tapes and the ability to carry out control by means of automatic devices that are suitably adapted for this purpose.

One of these tapes is shown in the European patent EP-O 319157) and is essentially made of a layer of transparent and flexible plastic, on which an aluminum layer is sprayed in a vacuum, in which some zones, areas, texts or graphic signs are made. by means of demetallization, which creates some areas without metal, but they are completely surrounded by metal, which allows the continuity of the metal of the tape to be maintained.

This solution allows for easy forgery, because transfer materials can be used as materials that can be printed on a carrier that can be removed and mounted on other carriers, using particularly precise plates made with laser technology.

In addition, another possibility of easy counterfeiting arises from the use of conventional vacuum-metallized polyester sheets that are commercially available, from which aluminum can be removed, for example, with a Ma-Yad laser beam of about 100 nm wavelength, which is readily available equipment.

Another problem arises because, in the solution described above, the various graphic signs are obtained by completely removing the metal, thus causing in some cases, during the elongation phase of the tapes, which inevitably occurs when it is inserted into the paper, the rupture of the metal layer around the slit zones , which can greatly disrupt the continuity of the metal of the entire product.

Another problem arises because when inserting the tape into the paper, the tape becomes exposed to an acidic environment or some corrosive substance, which causes some corrosion, especially in the corner areas, which are obtained when the tape is completely demetalized.

This causes both quality degradation during product use and possible difficulty in reading and checking the tape or security element.

The purpose of the invention is to eliminate the described shortcomings by implementing a security element for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like, which would make it possible to create a product that would be impossible to reproduce using traditional technologies and therefore would be impossible to forge.

Within the scope of the above-described purpose, a separate object of the invention is a method of manufacturing a protective element that ensures the continuity of the metal over the entire surface of the carrier layer, thus preventing any possible rupture, for example, during the elongation of the tape when inserted into the paper, keeping at any - the conditions of continuity of the metal, which is necessary for the detection of the protective element with the help of reading means.

A further object of the invention is a method of producing a protective element that is not damaged even when it is exposed to an acidic environment, which is a typical environment, during the operation of inserting the tape into the paper, thus ensuring its integrity over time.

Another object of the invention is a method of manufacturing a protective element that can be applied externally to a document, thus creating an easily distinguishable feature.

The above-mentioned object, as well as additional objects briefly mentioned and others that will become clear later, are achieved according to the invention by a security element for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like, which consists of a flexible carrier layer having at least on the one hand, a layer of metallic material, and is distinguished by the fact that said layer of metallic material has at least one zone with a thickness of metal 6096 smaller than the thickness of the layer of metallic material of the surrounding parts.

Further features and advantages of the invention will become more clear from the description of one preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a security element for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, illustrated by a non-limiting example, with reference to the attached drawings, where: - figure 1 schematically shows a security element according to the invention; - figure 2 shows a cross-section of a protective element on an enlarged scale; - figure C shows the protective element according to the invention introduced into the document; - figure 4 shows a protective element located on the outer surface of the document.

According to the drawings, the protective element 1 for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like according to the invention has a flexible supporting layer 2, which is preferably made of polyester sheets and similar products.

On the carrier layer 2, on one side, but possibly also on both sides, there is a layer of metallic material 3, on which there are special zones 10, which have a metal thickness that is less than the thickness of the surrounding zones, preferably less than 7095 and more than 2590 thickness a layer of metal material of the surrounding parts; that is, at a layer thickness equal to 1.8 optical density, the zones with reduced thickness should have a thickness of 0.45 to 1.26 optical density.

Thus, the continuity of the metal takes place over the entire surface of the bearing layer, and the distinguishing elements, which can be represented by letters, graphic symbols and any other acceptable, are defined in practice by the specified zones, which have a reduced thickness of the metal.

The metal layer can be made of aluminum, which is metallized under vacuum, or of another metal, such as chromium, nickel, copper, or a combination of these materials.

Partial removal of metal provides continuity of metal with different amounts of metal in the areas where partial removal is carried out, which makes this document visually remarkable.

The carrier layer can be made of tape as shown in the specific example below, but it is understood that it can have any other configuration, such as threading, embossing, or any other configuration considered acceptable.

The security element produced as described above can either be completely embedded in the paper from which the document is made, or partially embedded, that is, have some part that extends beyond the surface, or is directly applied to the surface, as schematically shown in figure 4.

In this embodiment, the carrier layer is made of 15.19 or 23 µm polyester metallized on its side using a vacuum metallizer that deposits an aluminum layer with an optical density of 1.8.

A cleaner film can be obtained by plasma treatment, which allows better and more uniform adhesion.

Preferably, the application speed should be no more than 400-500 meters per minute, while using a metallizer with a feeding system for each aluminum strip and with an automatic metallization control system, in order to obtain a surface with a maximum thickness variation of less than 395.

The tape, processed as described above, is introduced into the chemical demetalization device, possibly with the use of acid.

To carry out processing, the metal layer is previously subjected to crown processing, which makes it easier to fix the typographic ink used.

On top of the aluminum layer, in the usual way, a very transparent printing ink is printed to protect the aluminum from the action of acidic substances, such as . printing inks are, for example, nitrocellulose printing inks with additives of a catalyst or in any case of a substance that contributes to the strengthening of metal, in the percentage ratio 1905.

Several tanks containing chemicals for strip demetallization and tanks for further washing and drying are required.

An acceptable method includes metallization of a 23-micron polyester film with a layer of aluminum w/- 395 with an optical density of 1.8, after which the metal layer is subjected to crown treatment, thus providing a surface wettability of 54 -/- 4 filii, then the metal layer is printed with typographic ink for metals, for example, with nitrocellulose paint, 1.2-2 microns thick.

Then the film is placed in a tank with 47-4895 phosphoric acid at a temperature of 407С h/- 2 for 40-45 seconds.

The film is washed in a tank with water, and after leaving this tank, the film is immersed in a tank with a buffer solution made of water and 3/595 ammonia.

After that, the processed film is submitted for careful rinsing, keeping the pH level in each container constant.

At the exit of the last tank, the film is fed for twisting by means of rubber rollers, and then it is drawn through a tunnel with hot air at a speed of 4Ω/min and at a temperature of the tunnel vault of about 90/100"C; the tunnel is about 6 meters long to ensure the time processing for about 10 seconds.

The method described above allows obtaining protective tapes on which the deposited aluminum is partially removed from an optical density of 1.8 to an optical density of 0.7 in areas where the printing ink has not been applied.

Another possible solution for obtaining the protective element according to the invention is to carry out complete demetallization in the areas where the letters, distinguishing marks and similar elements, which are shown in position 10, are to be printed, and then apply the metal with a thickness less than the thickness of the surrounding areas.

In practice, a 23-μm polyester film is metallized to an optical density of 1.8 -/- Z9o, then, as in the previous case, a crown treatment is performed, reaching a surface wettability of up to 54 h/- 4 and printing is performed with a thickness of 1.2 - 2 μm on the sides of the metal layer with cellulose printing inks.

The film obtained in this way is placed in a tank containing 54-5695 phosphoric acid at a temperature of 5570 w/- 2 for about 50-55 seconds.

Then the film is washed in a tank using water, and after that, in another tank, it is immersed in a buffer solution of water and 3/595 ammonia.

After thorough rinsing, the film is subjected to spraying and drying, as in the previous example.

Then the film is subjected to the operation of full bottom metallization, preferably with a thickness of 0.7 optical density.

The metal layer can also be made on the opposite side.

From the preceding description it can be seen that the invention achieves the proposed objectives, and in particular it has been shown that a protective element has been obtained that has a surface continuity of the metal, which excludes any complex counterfeiting, and also strengthens the mechanical and chemical characteristics of the entire product by the fact that such continuity metal prevents, especially in areas where there are signs and characteristic letters, further breakage during the processing phases.

This invention can be modified within the scope of the claims.

To what is illustrated above, it should be added that the ratio between reduced thickness surfaces and full thickness surfaces can be changed so that visually prominent letters can be defined by full thickness zones.

The characteristic features of the embodiment, which are described in the respective individual examples, in practice can be mutually replaced by other features introduced in other embodiments.

In addition, it is clear that everything that is partially known from the prior art during the study of this application has been deleted from the claims.

In practice, the materials used, as well as the sizes and shapes, can be different according to different needs.

In particular, the metal layer 3 can be made of noble metal, aluminum, chromium, nickel, copper or a combination thereof. Predominantly, the precious metal is gold. what and about U p Shk i i

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The protective element (1) for documents in general, in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like, consists of a carrier layer (2), which has a continuous layer of metallic material (3) on at least one side. Said continuous layer of metal material (3) has at least one zone (10) with a metal thickness reduced relative to the surrounding parts for visual distinction from the surrounding parts or vice versa.

The protective element (1) for documents in general, in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like consists of a carrier layer (2), which has, at least on one side, a continuous layer of metallic material (3). The specified continuous layer of metallic material (3) has at least one zone (10) with a metal thickness reduced relative to the surrounding parts for visual distinction from the surrounding parts or vice versa.

Claims (14)

1. A protective element (1) for documents in general, in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like, which consists of a carrier layer (2), which has at least on one side a continuous layer of metallic material (3), which is characterized by the fact that said continuous layer of metal material (3) has at least one zone (10) with a reduced metal thickness in relation to the surrounding parts for visual distinction from the surrounding parts or vice versa. 2. Protective element (1) according to claim 1, which is characterized in that at least one zone (10) has a metal thickness less than 70 95 and greater than 25 95 of the thickness of the metal material layer (3) of the surrounding parts. 3. The protective element (1) according to any of the previous items, characterized in that the metal layer (3) is made of a noble metal, aluminum, chromium, nickel, copper, or a combination thereof. 4. Protective element (1) according to claim 3, characterized in that the precious metal is gold. 5. The protective element (1) according to any of the previous items, characterized in that the metal layer (3) has a thickness less than 2.2 of the optical density. 6. The protective element (1) according to claim 1, which is characterized in that the layer of metal material (3) in at least one zone (10), which has a reduced layer thickness, is continuously formed. 7. Protective element (1) according to one or more of the previous items, which is characterized by the fact that the supporting layer (2) is flexible. 8. The method of production of a protective element (1) for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like, according to claim 1 of the formula, which is characterized by the fact that it includes the metallization of at least one side of the polyester carrier layer (2), the application of a printed layer printing ink on it to protect the specified metal layer (3), demetallization of the tape in a tank containing 47-48 95% phosphoric acid at a temperature of 40 "C x 2 "C for 40-45 seconds, washing with a buffer solution made of water and ammonia, and rinsing the resulting product. 9. The method according to claim 8, which differs in that it has the stages of drying the film by twisting and passing it through a tunnel with hot air at a speed of 40 m/min. at a temperature of 90-100 "C with a constant time, essentially 10 seconds. 10. The method according to claims 8, 9, which differs in that it has the stage of performing crown processing on the metal layer (3) for adhesion of typographic ink during printing. 11. The method of production of a protective element (1) for documents in general and in particular for banknotes, security cards and the like, which is characterized by the fact that it includes the metallization of the polyester carrier layer (2), printing with cellulose printing inks on the produced metal layer (3), demetallization with 54-56 95% phosphoric acid at a temperature of 55 "C and 2 "C for 50-55 seconds, washing the obtained product with water and ammonia, rinsing and applying with the help of full bottom metallization a metal layer with a thickness less than the thickness of the already existing layer. 12. The document as a whole, which differs in that it has a fully introduced protective element (1) according to the previous clauses of the formula. 13. The document as a whole according to claim 12, which is characterized by the fact that it has at least one partially introduced protective element (1) according to the previous clauses of the formula. 14. The document as a whole, which differs in that it has on one of its outer sides a protective element (1) according to the previous clauses of the formula.