JP4574702B2 - Cards manufactured using card sheets - Google Patents

Description

  BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a card sheet used as a material for a card particularly required for heat resistance among plastic cards such as a magnetic stripe card and an IC card, and a card manufactured using the card sheet. .

As a material for a plastic card such as a magnetic stripe card, a polyvinyl chloride resin (hereinafter referred to as “PVC”) has been conventionally used.
In general, a magnetic stripe card is formed by stacking a transparent oversheet temporarily bonded with magnetic tape on a printed white core sheet, and heat-sealing the sheets with a hot press (hereinafter referred to as “laminate”). It is manufactured by cutting into a card shape with a punching blade, and finally engraving characters (hereinafter referred to as “emboss”) with an embosser, and encoding the magnetic tape.

There are various IC card manufacturing methods. Non-contact type IC cards are manufactured by, for example, a method in which a device such as an IC chip is sandwiched between core sheets during lamination to be fused and integrated. The contact IC card is manufactured by, for example, a method in which a printed card surface punched into a card shape is cut with a router to form a recess, and an IC chip or the like is attached thereto using an adhesive.
Many IC cards use a combination of magnetic stripes and embosses, and the characteristics required for the IC card sheet are almost the same as the characteristics required for the magnetic stripe card sheet, and PVC has been used favorably. Moreover, a PVC sheet is a material suitable for card manufacture, which can be produced in a large amount by a calendar method, and has excellent printability, laminateability, and embossability.

Recently, there has been an increasing need for card sheets made of materials other than PVC in response to the global ecology boom. For example, about 30 mol% of the ethylene glycol component in polyethylene terephthalate is obtained with 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol. There has been proposed a sheet made of a substantially non-crystalline polyester resin (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “PETG”).
The PETG sheet is suitable for processing to a card similar to a PVC sheet in processing to a card such as printing, magnetic tape pasting, press fusing, punching, embossing, etc., and can be converted into a card using the same equipment as the PVC sheet, so it replaces PVC. It is said to be the favorite sheet material. Further, since the press fusing temperature is about 110 ° C., which is considerably lower than the press fusing temperature of the PVC sheet, there is an advantage that the press cycle can be shortened and the production efficiency is increased.
However, the card produced from this PETG sheet has a low practical heat-resistant temperature, and this PETG is not suitable for applications such as cards that require a high practical heat-resistant temperature. The practical heat resistant temperature will be described later.
In order to improve the heat resistance of the sheet, it has been studied to blend a heat resistant resin such as polycarbonate (hereinafter sometimes abbreviated as “PC”). However, when PETG and PC are blended and melt-kneaded, an ester carbonate reaction occurs, causing problems such as easy foaming of the sheet, browning of the sheet, and deterioration of physical properties of the sheet. .

Although this reaction can be prevented by adding phosphorus-based or phenol-based antioxidants and kneading at the lowest possible temperature, blending PETG and PC will produce a sheet with a practical heat-resistant temperature at the required level. To obtain it, it is necessary to add about 50% by weight of PC. If a large amount of PC is blended in this way, the tensile yield strength of the sheet becomes too large, and if the card obtained from this sheet is embossed, the card will be greatly curled, and this embossed curl will not be within the specified range. There was no problem.
In other words, the emboss curl is stipulated in JIS X6301 and ISO / IEC 7810 so as not to exceed 2.5 mm including the thickness of the card. Therefore, a plate-like filler such as talc is added to this sheet, and microvoids are generated in the embossed portion to reduce the residual stress in the embossed portion, and the embossed curl is reduced, but a sufficient effect is produced. A certain amount of filler must be added.
However, the card obtained from the sheet to which the filler is added as described above has a problem that the impact strength is reduced, or when the card is punched into a card shape, the cross section of the card is rough and burrs are easily generated.

  The present study has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to produce a non-PVC card sheet having excellent heat resistance and small emboss curl, and the card sheet. To provide a card.

The card sheet of the present invention is a sheet used as a material for a plastic card, and is composed of a layer made of a substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin composition and a resin composition having higher heat resistance. A flexible temperature measured by JIS K6734 is 75 ° C. or higher, and a tensile yield strength measured by JIS K6745 is 57 N / mm ² or lower.
Here, the resin composition having higher heat resistance than the substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin composition is a resin composition mainly composed of a copolymer of an aromatic polycarbonate resin and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid. There may be.
Further, the resin composition having higher heat resistance than the substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin composition may be a resin composition mainly composed of a resin obtained by melting and mixing polybutylene terephthalate with an aromatic polycarbonate. Good.
The card of the present invention is a card manufactured using at least two of the card sheets described above, and the substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester type of the card sheet. It is characterized by being formed by laminating layers made of resin compositions in contact with each other. However, the two or more card sheets used may be the same or different.

  The card sheet of this study has a practical heat resistance of a level exceeding 80 ° C when processed into a card, and the card curl does not exceed the standard value even when embossed. It can be suitably used as a material.

The present invention will be described below.
In the present invention, the card sheet refers to a sheet as a material used for card manufacture. For example, each sheet such as an oversheet and a core sheet corresponds to the card sheet of the present invention. In these sheets, one or more layers each composed of a substantially amorphous aromatic polyester resin composition and a layer composed of a resin composition having higher heat resistance are laminated. In the present invention, when a card is produced, card sheets can be used in appropriate combinations, and the number of sheets can be selected as appropriate, for example, by using a plurality of core sheets.

The term “polyester” as used herein refers to a dehydration condensate of an aromatic dicarboxylic acid and a diol. The substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester used in the present invention (hereinafter referred to as “non-crystalline polyester”) is a so-called “polyester”. Among aromatic copolyesters, those which have particularly low crystallinity and which do not cause white turbidity or poor fusion due to crystallization even when subjected to thermal processing frequently performed in practice such as press fusion.
Examples of the dicarboxylic acid include terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid, adipic acid, and naphthalenedicarboxylic acid. Examples of the diol include ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol, and cyclohexanedimethanol. The combination of the dicarboxylic acid component and the diol component is appropriately performed.
Specifically, a substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin (trade name “PETG”, yeast, in which about 30 mol% of the ethylene glycol component in polyethylene terephthalate is substituted with 1,4-cyclohexanedimethanol. Man Chemical) is commercially available.

In the present invention, the layer made of a resin composition having higher heat resistance than the substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin composition (hereinafter referred to as “heat-resistant resin”) is not particularly limited in the type of resin. The layer which consists of an amorphous thermoplastic resin composition whose softening temperature measured by JISK6734 is about 90 to 160 degreeC corresponds.
When transparency is required for the layer made of the heat-resistant resin composition, it is desirable to select polycarbonate, polyarylate, heat-resistant acrylic, transparent heat-resistant ABS, or the like as the heat-resistant resin.

The card | curd sheet | seat of this invention is 75 degreeC or more in the flexible temperature of the sheet | seat measured by JISK6734. When the flexible temperature is 75 ° C. or higher, the practical heat resistant temperature is about 80 ° C. or higher when processed into a card having a thickness of 760 μm, and the card can be applied to a card that requires a high practical heat resistant temperature. For example, a gasoline purchasing card, various commuter pass cards, ETC cards, etc. require a practical heat-resistant temperature of over 80 ° C., so ordinary PETG having a practical heat-resistant temperature of only 60 ° C. was not suitable, The card sheet of the present invention is preferably applied.
The “practical heat-resistant temperature” here refers to the highest temperature among the temperatures at which a large dimensional change does not occur even if the card is left under a certain condition. There are various methods for determining the practical heat-resistant temperature, but in general, when the card is left standing for several hours in a state of leaning at an angle of 45 degrees, the maximum temperature at which no obvious curling occurs on the card is set.

The card sheet of the present invention has a tensile yield strength of 57 N / mm ² or less as measured according to JIS K6745. When the tensile yield strength of more than 57N / mm ^2, can accommodate the embossed curl within standard it becomes difficult when processed into cards.
Accordingly, it is desirable that the heat resistant resin has a low tensile yield strength. However, in general polycarbonates and polyarylates, the tensile yield strength may be increased when the proportion of the laminated sheet increases. Therefore, when the ratio of the heat-resistant resin in the laminated sheet increases due to an increase in the thickness of the heat-resistant resin layer or an increase in the number of laminated heat-resistant resin layers, for example, an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid It is desirable to use a resin having a low tensile yield strength, such as polycarbonate (for example, trade name “Lexan SP”, manufactured by Nippon GE Plastics Co., Ltd.) or a polymer alloy of polycarbonate and polybutylene terephthalate. .

  Moreover, when the card | curd sheet | seat of this invention is an oversheet, it is desirable for at least one side to consist of an amorphous polyester-type resin composition. In addition, when the card sheet of the present invention is a core sheet, it preferably has a three-layer structure of an outer layer, an intermediate layer, and an outer layer, and both outer layers on the front and back surfaces are made of an amorphous polyester resin composition. desirable. When laminating the oversheet and the core sheet, it is preferable to laminate so that the non-crystalline polyester faces face each other. By laminating the oversheet and the core sheet in this way, the press temperature can be lowered to about 110 ° C. The lower the press temperature, the shorter the production cycle, and the less deterioration of the sheet and discoloration of the printed layer due to the heat of the press.

  For example, when polycarbonate is used as the heat-resistant resin, a minimum pressing temperature of about 160 ° C. is required depending on the pressure and time of the press. The non-crystalline polyester resin layer may flow and the pattern may be distorted or the card may become thin, and adjustment is necessary.

  In the present invention, the effect of the present invention can be obtained by setting the softening temperature and tensile yield strength of the card sheet within the above ranges. However, means for setting the card sheets within the above ranges are limited to the above-described means. It is assumed that various means are selected as appropriate.

  As for the card | curd sheet | seat of this invention, it is desirable for the mat | matte process whose so-called 10-point average roughness (Rz) is 3 micrometers-40 micrometers on at least one side. When Rz is 3 μm to 40 μm, when the sheets are stacked and press-fused, the air between the sheets and between the sheets and the gloss plate of the press easily escapes, and the resulting card There will be no defects.

  In the present invention, it is preferable that the printed surface, which is one surface of the card sheet, is subjected to mat processing with Rz of 3 μm to 10 μm and the other surface of Rz of 15 μm to 40 μm. If the Rz of the printed surface is 3 μm or more, the ink adhesion is good, and if the Rz is 10 μm or less, the contour of the pattern does not blur or the pattern after pressing is not distorted. If Rz on the back side of printing is 15 μm or more, especially in the case of screen printing, even if a large number of printed sheets are stacked, the printed surface does not stick to the back side of the upper sheet, and Rz is 40 μm or less. Air easily escapes during pressing.

  When the card sheet is a core sheet, it is desirable that the sheet contains 7 wt% to 30 wt% of a white pigment. If the white pigment is contained in an amount of 7% by weight or more, the card is sufficiently concealed when produced on a card, and the card can be reliably detected by a card reader. Moreover, if it is 30 weight% or less, a physical property does not fall and the problem that a card | curd becomes easy to break does not arise.

As a method of laminating sheets, there are methods such as co-extrusion and lamination, but co-extrusion is preferable from the viewpoint of productivity and cost. Therefore, it is desirable to select a heat-resistant resin that is fused to the amorphous polyester. However, if the fusion strength is not sufficient, an adhesive resin layer may be further provided.
In the present invention, additives such as a colorant, a lubricant, a filler, and an impact modifier may be added to each layer of the multilayer sheet as necessary.

  The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples.

Example 1
Production of Oversheet The product name “PETG6763” (Eastman Chemical Co., Ltd.) is used as the non-crystalline polyester, the PC (trade name “Noveratex 7022”, manufactured by Mitsubishi Engineering Plastics Co., Ltd.), and aliphatic dicarboxylic acid are used as the heat resistant resin. Copolymerized aromatic polycarbonate resin (trade name “Lexan SP1010”, manufactured by Nippon GE Plastics Co., Ltd.) (hereinafter referred to as “copolymerization PC”), and aromatic polycarbonate resin “Novalex 7022” were made PBT (trade name “Novadour”). 5010R5 ", manufactured by Mitsubishi Engineering Plastics Co., Ltd., and a resin (hereinafter referred to as" PC / PBT ") to which 30% by weight is added, an oversheet having a layer thickness of 100 μm (comparative oversheet Nos. 1 to 4) Invention oversheet No. 5-8 It was produced. However, each resin was selected so as to have the layer configuration and the layer thickness shown in Table 1, and single layer and two layer sheets were obtained by the T-die coextrusion method. In Table 1, the PETG layer refers to a layer composed of PETG, the PC layer refers to a layer composed of PC, the copolymerized PC layer refers to a layer composed of copolymerized PC, and the PC / PBT layer refers to a layer composed of PC / PBT.
Further, the flexible temperature of the sheet was measured according to JIS K6734, and the tensile yield strength of the sheet was measured according to JIS K6745. The measurement results are shown in Table 1.

Example 2
Preparation of core sheet The same material as in Example 1, that is, “PETG6763” as the non-crystalline polyester, “Novarex 7022”, “Lexan SP1010”, and “Novalex 7022” as the heat resistant resin, 30 weights of “Novadur 5010R5” A core sheet having a total thickness of 280 μm was obtained using PC / PBT with a% addition. However, a single-layer or three-layer sheet was prepared by a T-die coextrusion method so that the layer configuration and layer thickness of the core sheet were as shown in Table 2 (Comparative Core Sheet Nos. 1 to 4, Core sheet No. 5-9 of this invention.
In addition, 10% by weight of titanium oxide was added to each layer of the core sheet to form a white sheet. Further, the flexible temperature of the obtained sheet was measured according to JIS K6734, and the tensile yield strength of the sheet was measured according to JIS K6745. The measurement results are shown in Table 2.

Example 3
Production and Evaluation of Card A card was produced by combining the oversheet produced in Example 1 and the core sheet produced in Example 2 as shown in Table 3. However, the layer structure of the card was such that two oversheets were stacked one above the other and two core sheets were stacked. The total thickness of the card was 760 μm. The card is manufactured by fusing and integrating the oversheet and the core sheet at the press temperature shown in Table 3, the sheet pressure is 10 kgf / cm ² , and the heating time is 10 minutes. Got.
In all the card-structured sheets, the oversheet was laminated and fused so that the surface of the same material as the surface of the core sheet was in contact with the core sheet.
A sheet of the obtained card structure is punched into a card shape to produce a card, and the card is left standing in a gear oven at a constant temperature for 6 hours with the long side of the card leaning so as to be at an angle of 45 degrees with respect to the horizontal plane. And cooled to room temperature. Next, place the curved card that has been taken out on the surface plate so that the top is convex, measure the maximum distance (including the card thickness) from the surface plate surface to the top surface of the card, and change the temperature to measure this. Was repeated. The highest temperature among the temperatures at which the measured value falls within 2.5 mm is indicated as the heat resistant temperature in the “heat resistant temperature” column of Table 3.
Moreover, after embossing 3 lines of characters in 7B font using the Embosser DC9000 of Nippon Data Card Co., Ltd. on the obtained card, place the card on the surface plate with the embossed part up, and the embossed characters of the card from the surface plate surface. The maximum distance (including the thickness of the card) to the other portion was measured, and the result was recorded in the “embossed curl” column in Table 3. In Table 3, the total heat resistance temperature of 80 ° C. or higher and the embossed curl of 2.5 mm or lower was marked as “◯”, and the one not satisfying either one or more was marked as “X”.

As is apparent from Table 3, the oversheet No. 5-8 and the core sheet No. of the present invention. The card sheet No. In all of Nos. 5 to 9, the heat resistant temperature was 80 ° C. or more, the emboss curl was 2.5 mm or less, and the overall evaluation was “◯”. On the other hand, the comparison oversheet No. 1-4 and comparative core sheet No. Card sheets No. 1 to 4 combined. In Nos. 1 to 4, no heat resistance temperature of 80 ° C. or higher and emboss curl of 2.5 mm or less were satisfied at the same time, and the overall evaluation was x for all cards.
The card sheet No. Since Nos. 5 to 8 were laminated by laminating the non-crystalline polyester surfaces, the press temperature could be kept low.

  As explained in detail above, the card sheet of this study has a practical heat resistance level exceeding 80 ° C when processed into a card, and the card curl exceeds the standard value even when embossed. Therefore, it can be suitably used as a heat-resistant card material.

  The card of the present invention is particularly suitable as a card that requires heat resistance. For example, among plastic cards such as magnetic stripe cards and IC cards, the card of the present invention is widely used in the technical field of cards that particularly require heat resistance. .

Claims (2)

A layer composed of a substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester-based resin composition and at least a resin using polycarbonate, and a softening temperature measured by JIS K6734 is 90 ° C. or higher and 160 ° C. or lower, One or more layers each made of a non-crystalline thermoplastic resin composition having higher heat resistance than a substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin composition are laminated by coextrusion, and in accordance with JIS K6734 A card produced by using two or more card sheets, each having a measured flexible temperature of 75 ° C. or more and a tensile yield strength measured by JIS K6745 of 57 N / mm ² or less,
A card formed by laminating layers of the substantially non-crystalline aromatic polyester resin composition of the card sheet in contact with each other. The resin using at least the polycarbonate is any one of polycarbonate, a copolymer of an aromatic polycarbonate resin and an aliphatic dicarboxylic acid, or a resin obtained by melt-mixing polybutylene terephthalate in an aromatic polycarbonate. Item 1. A card according to item 1 .