Bayer MaterialScience: New film system with watermarks for polycarbonate cards

Watermarks incorporated into bank notes, stamps and other valuable paper documents have for many years proven to be an effective deterrent to counterfeiters. Now Bayer MaterialScience has developed a film system based on Makrofol® ID DP1230 that also allows colored watermarks to be incorporated into security cards made of polycarbonate, such as passports, driver’s licenses and ID cards. The design of the watermark can be made unique for each individual card, thus making any attempt at counterfeiting extremely difficult. It is also impossible to manipulate the finished cards after production.

“Thermal lamination of the printed films without the use of any adhesive creates what to all intents and purposes is a single solid piece of polycarbonate. Any attempt to interfere with the film structure in order to get at the watermark will result in the destruction of the card. This adds an extra dimension of protection against counterfeiting,” says Georgios Tziovaras, a plastics card expert at Bayer MaterialScience.

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The watermarks can be applied to Makrofol® ID DP1230 at low cost using a simple printing method that can easily be integrated into the ID card manufacturing process. Printing results of excellent quality are achievable, depending essentially on the type of printer used. Resolutions of up to 1,200 dpi (dots per inch), for example, present no problem. “Thanks to the high printing quality and the structure of the cards made from our films, every detail of the watermark can be seen in high contrast and with sharp contours when backlit,” adds Tziovaras.

Photo: Thanks to the high printing quality and the structure of cards made from Makrofol® ID polycarbonate film, every detail of the watermark can be seen in high contrast and with sharp contours when backlit.

More Information: www.bayermaterialscience.de

Bayer MaterialScience AG, Leverkusen, Germany

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