A security film for credit/debit cards but also with potential in logistics, brand protection and labelling has been developed by Bayer MaterialScience. The Makrofol ID ProteXXion polycarbonate film incorporates tiny metal platelets which are detected by a laser.
These metallic identification particles (OVDot), are distributed stochastically and can be arranged in customised patterns to produce identification security features. The overlay film can be used to give polycarbonate security documents, such as IDs, passports, drivers’ licenses and, ultimately, credit cards, a unique surface. It also has potential for protecting branded articles and in the production of counterfeit-proof labels. According to Bayer the random distribution of the metal particles makes every ID made of the film unique, and so virtually counterfeit-proof. The metal particles, which measure around a tenth of a millimeter, can also carry alphanumeric information, logos, pictograms or national emblems.
The new film is available in a standard thickness of 100 microns. It can be decorated before processing using screen printing or laser engraving, formed when either hot or cold and back-injected with thermoplastics in the film insert moulding process.
The film came from co-operation between Bayer’s Films Unit and Bayer Technology Services on the ProteXXion technology for laser-reading surface information to ensure counterfeit-proof authentication of objects. The light beam of a laser scanner records and digitises the reflective characteristics of an object’s surface and compresses the information using special analysis algorithms. The resulting datasets can be compared at any time with previously generated registration scans stored in a database, enabling the object or card to be authenticated.
Source: britishplastics.co.uk
