Method of making a foil faced financial transaction card having graphics printed thereon and card made thereby

[0002] The present invention is directed to an improved financial transaction card, particularly a secure card, and a method of making the same. The financial transaction card has a clear scratch resistant metallic surface with graphics printed thereon and meets ANSI/ISO specifications.

[0003] The problems encountered in attempting to provide a financial transaction card which has an attractive scratch resistant metallic surface with printed graphics thereon are discussed in the introduction portion of assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,533. These problems include breakage of the thin metallized surface and/or lack of clarity in the over-laminate. Conventional offset lithography printing of a thin metallized surface on a thin plastic substrate such as a financial transaction card has also not been practical, especially in an automated process, since the details of the graphics, e.g., fine lines, etc., tend to blur.

[0004] The difficulties in making such a card are increased where a security feature involving printing additional security graphics is desired, making it more difficult to meet ANSI/ISO specifications for resistance to delamination. There is a need for an improved financial transaction card and a method of making the card wherein the card has an attractive foil face having graphics printed thereon which card can meet ANSI/ISO specifications for a secure card and at the same time permits the use of either offset litho press and/or silkscreen printing process for printing on the foil face.

[0005] This need is addressed by the method of the present invention for making a foil faced financial transaction card having graphics printed thereon. The method comprises providing a plastic substrate layer and a metal containing foil layer having a front surface with a printable top coat layer thereon. The metal containing foil layer is mounted by way of its back surface on a surface of the substrate layer. A layer of adhesive is applied to the printable top coat layer of the foil layer. Front graphics are printed on the front surface of the adhesive layer. A clear protective overlay is provided on the front surface of the adhesive layer over the graphics thereon. The card meets ANSI/ISO specifications for the characteristics of a financial transaction card. That is, the component layers of material that form the foil faced card are bonded to one another to the extent that any layer possesses a minimum peel strength of 3.4 lbf/in to resist delamination of the card.

[0006] In the disclosed embodiment, the method further comprises printing enhanced security graphics over the front graphics on the adhesive layer. The first graphics printed on the front surface of the adhesive layer can be printed using an offset litho press and/or silkscreen printing process. The front graphics are preferably printed on the adhesive layer using ultraviolet curable ink which is cured immediately after printing by exposure to ultraviolet light.

[0007] The method of the disclosed embodiment further comprises providing a second plastic substrate layer for the back of the card, printing graphics on one side thereon, collating the printed substrate layers with respect to clear plastic overlays and laminating the layers to bond the same to one another. The laminating is performed in a platen press under controlled conditions of temperature, pressure and cycle time of the platen press.

[0008] The improved foil faced financial transaction card of the invention has graphics printed thereon and, as stated above, the card meets ANSI/ISO specifications for the characteristics of a financial transaction card. This is the case even where the card includes enhanced security graphics printed over the front graphics on the adhesive layer. The card can also be embossed with letters and/or numerals, the tops of the embossed letters and/or numerals having tipping foil applied thereto. Additional security features, including a hologram and a tamper-proof signature panel can be hot stamped on the card while retaining the necessary structural integrity of the card to meet the ANSI/ISO specifications. The back of the card includes a magnetic stripe thereon in the disclosed embodiment.

[0009] These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiment taken with the accompanying drawings.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the front of a financial transaction card of the present invention.

[0011] FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the back of the financial transaction card of FIG. 1.

[0012] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the financial transaction card taken along the line 3—3 in FIG. 1.

[0013] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of the method of making the financial transaction card according to the invention.

[0014] Referring now to the drawings, a secure financial transaction card 20 of the invention is depicted in FIGS. 1-3. The card 20 meets the ANSI/ISO specifications for the characteristics of a financial transaction card, particularly ISO/IEC 7810:1995. Section 8.1.8 Delamination specification requires that component layers of material that form the card structure shall be bonded to the extent that any layer shall possess a minimum peel strength of 6 N/CM (3.4 lbf/in). Tearing of the overlay during the test signifies that the bond is stronger than the overlay, which is automatically deemed acceptable.

[0015] The method of making the foil faced financial transaction card 20 comprises providing a plastic substrate layer, for example, a rigid solid layer of polyvinyl chloride having a thickness of 26 mil, and a metal containing foil layer 1 having a front surface with a printable top coat layer thereon. In the illustrated embodiment, the metal containing foil layer 1 is a metallized polyester film with an overlay of copolymer thermal adhesive on both sides of the foil layer as a top coat for printing and as a bonding agent for mounting the foil layer on the substrate layer. Such a foil layer is commercially available. The thickness of the foil layer is 0.002 inch in the disclosed embodiment.

[0016] The metal containing foil layer 1 is mounted by way of its back surface on a surface of the substrate layer, substrate 2 in the disclosed embodiment, by a roll laminating process and a heat sensitive adhesive on the back of the metal containing foil layer.

[0017] An adhesive layer 10 is applied to the printable top coat layer of the foil layer, preferably before printing front graphics on the metal containing foil layer. In the disclosed embodiment, a vinyl based material with naptha and ketone solvents is employed. The adhesive has a laminating metallic clear base and is commercially available. The adhesive layer has a thickness on the order of 50 microns, particularly 51 microns, in the illustrated embodiment.

[0018] The adhesive layer 10 on the metal containing foil layer is then printed with front graphics on the front surface of the adhesive layer. The printing can be performed using an offset litho press or a silkscreen process. Enhanced security graphics can then be printed over the front graphics on the adhesive layer. It has been found that the use of ultraviolet ink security graphics over the front graphics on the metal containing foil layer result in an enhanced, vivid appearance when viewed under black light.

[0019] A clear protective overlay 4 is applied to the front surface of the adhesive layer 10 over the graphics thereon. This laminating is preferably performed in a platen press under controlled conditions of temperature, pressure and time. Additional security features, including a hologram 7 and a signature panel 9 are optionally applied to the card 20 by hot stamping. A magnetic stripe 6 can also be provided on the back overlay 5 of the card. The overlays 4 and 5 are 2 mil clear PVC in the disclosed embodiment. It is noted that the plastic substrate in the illustrated embodiment comprises two 13 mil white rigid PVC substrates which are collated with the clear protective overlays for lamination. As noted above, a single 26 mil white rigid PVC substrate could also be employed.

[0020] The flow diagram of FIG. 4 schematically illustrates process steps in making the card. For this purpose, a quantity of foil is ordered from a subcontractor, who procures a designated foil design. The foil subcontractor applies a printable top coat to the front surface of the foil and a heat-activated adhesive to the back of the rolled foil. Rolls are sent to a subcontracted mounting contractor. A quantity of 13 mil rigid PVC sheets is sent to the subcontracted mounting contractor. The mounting contractor applies the foil to the PVC sheets via the heat-activated adhesive as referred to above and ships the composite back to the assignee's manufacturing facility.

[0021] The foiled PVC sheets are shear cut to improve feeding capabilities on printing presses. The adhesive coating 10 is applied, by a silkscreen process, to the front of the foil sheets to ensure lamination. Graphics are applied to the front foil sheets using multicolor UV offset litho presses, and/or a silkscreen process. Graphics for the back of the card are prepared on separate sheets of 13 mil white PVC. These graphics are printed using offset litho and/or silkscreen processes. Ultraviolet security graphics are offset litho printed over the front graphics on the foil faced substrate layer 2. The front and back sheets are moved to the lamination department of the next stage of the manufacturing process.

[0022] The sheets of fronts and backs are collated with 2.0 mil clear PVC on the front and 2.0 mil mag striped clear PVC on the back. The collated sheets are laminated in a platen press under controlled conditions. The laminated sheets are moved to the card reduction department where sheets are die cut to card size, which meet CR80 specifications. Cards are inspected for defects and non-conformances, counted and moved to the hot-stamp department. Signature panels 6, holograms 7 and other foil decorations 8, if specified, are applied to the cards. The finished cards 20 are then counted and packed according to customer specifications. The cards advantageously meet the ANSI/ISO specifications including that for delamination in that the component layers of material that form the foil faced card are bonded to one another to the extent that any layer possesses a minimum peel strength of 3.4 lbf/in to resist delamination of the card, even in the case printed security graphics are provided on the card in addition to the front graphics. The cards will also accept tipping foil and flat card printing when personalizing in standard equipment. The cards can also be hot stamped with the decorating foils and holograms and the card has improved wear resistance as compared with conventional cards the previous foil card of assignee's U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,533.

[0023] While we have shown and described only a single embodiment in accordance with the present invention, it will be apparent to the skilled artisan that variations in the disclosed card and method are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. We therefore intend to be limited only by the scope of the following claims directed to the present invention.