Method for producing a foil composite from several material webs for a valuable or security document

Abstract

Method for producing a film composite (11) from several material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) for a valuable or security document, wherein each material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) is transported along at least one transport roller (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) and fed to at least one lamination device (34), wherein each surface of the material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) that is laminated with an adjacent material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) is preheated with at least one heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) after leaving the last transport roller (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) and before entering the lamination device (34), and between two In each of the adjacent material webs (14,15; 15,16; 16,17; 17,18) at least one heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) is positioned, through which the surfaces of the adjacent material webs (14,15; 15,16; 16,17; 18) to be laminated are heated.17, 18) are preheated,- wherein the preheated material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) are brought together with a pair of rollers (26) and then fed to the lamination device (34) and laminated together to form the film composite (11), characterized in that two or more material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) are made of a thermoplastic elastomer, and that the respective heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) is controlled with a heating power such that the surface of these material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) is preheated to a temperature that corresponds to or is higher than the glass transition temperature of the respective material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18).

Description

The invention relates to a method for producing a film composite from a plurality of material webs for a value or security document.In the production of security documents, a plurality of polymer films are laminated to form a film composite. The polymer films are layered one above the other at room temperature and then fed to a lamination device. Such a lamination device consists of an arrangement of two upper and lower tools which are aligned parallel to one another and which are heated. Each upper and lower tool comprises a press pad and a lamination sheet. The stack of polymer films is positioned between the lamination sheets to form the film composite. For this purpose, the heated plates are moved together under pressure until air escapes from the film composite and a large-area contact of the individual material webs with one another is produced. Under pressure, thermal energy is supplied to the stack of polymer films until the glass transition temperature of the polymer films is reached, so that the surfaces of the individual material webs bond and lamination of the polymer films to one another to form a film composite takes place. Such a lamination process has the disadvantage that the cycle time for the production for such a film composite is limited by the process time for introducing the thermal energy for the subsequent welding of the surface of the polymer films to form a film composite.KR 10 2006 0 104 349 A discloses a method for producing a film composite from a plurality of material webs, wherein each material web is transported along at least one transport roller and fed to at least one lamination device. The material webs are a recycled paper, wherein a plurality of material webs of this paper are brought together by means of the lamination device, pressed and then bonded to one another by cooling by means of a subsequent pair of cooling rollers.US 2008 / 0 254 307 A1 discloses a method for producing a layer composite made of a polymer material, in which an outer layer is applied on both sides to a core layer in a first station and laminated to form a first layer composite and subsequently in a second station a further layer of a material web is again applied to the respective outer side of the first layer composite, which are laminated to one another in the second station to form a multiple layer composite.EP 2 631 050 A1 discloses a method and an apparatus for producing a composite material. In this method, at least two semi-finished webs are fed in their longitudinal direction to a pair of rollers, wherein each semi-finished web has fibers defined in a unidirectionally oriented manner and at least two of the semi-finished webs have different predetermined angles in the orientation of the fibers when fed to the pair of rollers.DE 17 04 784 A discloses a method for laminating two plastic sheets, in which the plastic surfaces to be connected to one another are heated by means of radiant heat, so that lamination is subsequently carried out when the two materials to be connected to one another are passed through a nip of a roller pair. The heating element is directly assigned to the nip of the two laminating rollers, so that the plastic webs are melted shortly before the feeding of the two material webs into the nip. This method has the disadvantage that only two material webs can be joined to one another and, if further material layers are to be applied, the above-described lamination process has to be repeated several times in succession.DE 10 2012 019 308 A1 discloses a method for producing an inlay for a multilayer data carrier, in particular for a data page of a passbook. This inlay consists of a plastic film which is laminated on both sides with a web of fabric material to form a composite. The plastic film is heated on both sides by a heater. The fed web material webs are in each case heated only on their outer side. These three webs are brought together by a heating chill roll arrangement and subsequently fed to a laminating device.DE 40 04 720 A1 discloses an apparatus for the continuous production of composite sheets. This device comprises a carriage which is actuated so as to be horizontally movable to and fro. Alternately and successively, a film web is laminated onto the preceding film web during each travel movement of the carriage.DE 1 504 154 B discloses a device for continuously welding a plurality of plastic films. For this purpose, a plurality of laminating stations arranged in series one behind the other are provided, so that a film is laminated onto the previously produced film composite in succession.The invention is based on the object of providing a method for producing a film composite from a plurality of material webs for a value or security document, in which method the production process is accelerated.The object on which the invention is based is achieved in that each material web which is laminated with an adjacent material web is preheated with at least one heating element after leaving the last transport roller upstream of the lamination device, viewed in the transport direction of the material webs, and before entering the lamination device, and in that the preheated material webs are brought together with a pair of rollers and are subsequently fed to the lamination device and laminated together to form a film composite. This makes it possible that, by preheating the surfaces of the material webs to be laminated to one another, a heat input by the laminating device into the material webs for laminating the layers to form a lamination composite or film composite can be shortened in time. Furthermore, the preheating of the material webs and the subsequent feeding of a pair of rollers has the advantage that a rapid and simple emptying of hollow spaces between the individual material webs is achieved and a first contact between the material webs takes place, as a result of which the heating through of the material webs in the lamination device can subsequently be further shortened in time. Thus, by preheating the surfaces of the material webs to be laminated and then bringing them together by means of the roller pair, a shortening of the lamination time and a reduction of the heat input in the lamination device for forming the film composite are achieved.It is preferably provided that the at least one heating element is positioned between the last transport roller in front of the lamination device and the roller pair as viewed in the transport direction, and the surfaces of the material web to be heated are guided past the heating element in a freely floating manner. This enables material webs of different thickness and / or rigidity to be supplied and heated equally. In particular when feeding a material web which is equipped with at least one electronic component, it is important to avoid severe bending or deflections of the material web. Such an arrangement facilitates the feeding of such a material web.The method provides that, when feeding a plurality of material webs, at least one heating element is positioned between two adjacent material webs, by means of which heating element the surfaces of the material webs facing one another, which surfaces are subsequently laminated to one another, are preheated. This has the advantage that the thermal energy is applied to both surfaces of the material webs to the same extent, so that uniform conditions can be created for the subsequent lamination.To form the film composite, preferably two or more material webs made of a thermoplastic elastomer, in particular polycarbonate or derivatives of polycarbonate, are fed in and the surface of these material webs is heated to a temperature which corresponds to the glass transition temperature of the respective material web or is higher. As a result, a partial melting or melting of at least the surface of the respective material webs can be achieved. This subsequently promotes and accelerates the lamination of the material webs to form the film composite.The rollers forming the roller pair are preferably heated. This can prevent the preheated surfaces of the material webs from cooling down and the heat input already effected into the surface of the material web can also be transported into the lamination device.Furthermore, it is preferably provided that the material webs supplied to the roller pair are compressed by the roller pair. As a result, cavities between the two surfaces of the material webs facing one another are emptied and the surface of the material webs is contacted with one another. Thereby, the lamination time can be further shortened.The individually preheated material webs, which are brought together or pressed together via the at least one pair of rollers, can be laminated by a plate laminator or roller laminator to form a film composite.For preheating the surfaces of the material webs to be laminated, an infrared radiation device or a hot air blower is preferably used as heating element.The invention and further advantageous embodiments and developments thereof are described and explained in more detail below with reference to the examples illustrated in the drawings. The features to be gathered from the description and the drawings can be used according to the invention individually or together in any combination. The following are shown: FIG. 1 shows a schematic illustration of a lamination process not according to the invention, having two lamination steps, FIG. 2 shows a schematic view for producing a film composite from a plurality of material webs in a lamination device, and FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the method for producing the film composite from a plurality of material webs in a lamination device.FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of a method for producing a film composite 11 from a plurality of material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.In this production process illustrated in FIG. 1, the film composite 11 is divided into two lamination steps, for example. In a first lamination step, a number of material webs is fed to a prelaminater 13, which is reduced compared to the number of material webs which form the finished film composite 11. At least two material webs 14, 15 are fed. In FIG. 1, it is shown by way of example that three material webs 14, 15, 16 are fed. A web of material 14 may comprise, for example, electronic components, such as an IC module 36, which is composed of an IC chip 37 and an antenna 38. These material webs 14, 15, 16 are fed to the prelaminater 13 in order subsequently to form the card core composite 12. The supply of the reduced number of material webs 14, 15, 16 compared to the complete number of material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 provided for the film composite 11 has the advantage that a reduced volume of the material webs 14, 15, 16 lying one above the other has to be heated. This also achieves an acceleration of the lamination process in the prelaminater 13 on account of the reduced number of material webs 14, 15, 16 to be heated.In the subsequent lamination step in a lamination device 34, the card core composite 12 and the remaining material webs 17, 18 can be fed to form the film composite 11 and laminated together.The feeding of the material webs 14, 15, 16 to the prelaminater and subsequently the feeding of the card core composite 12 with the remaining material webs 17, 18 to the lamination device 34 can take place directly and without preheating. Alternatively, individual material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 and / or the card core composite 12 can also be heated by at least one heating element before being fed to the prelaminater 13 and / or the lamination device 34, as will be described below.The at least two-stage lamination process can achieve an acceleration of the lamination process to form the film composite. In addition, inhomogeneous heating of individual layers can be avoided. In addition, a specific setting of the temperatures for the prelaminated card core composite 12 and the lamination to form film composite 11 can be effected on the basis of the division of the lamination steps in adaptation to the material thickness of material web 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.FIG. 2 shows a schematic view of an alternative embodiment of the method for producing a film composite 11 from FIG. 1. This embodiment can also be produced as a second lamination step in the production method described in FIG. 1. In this embodiment according to FIG. 2, the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are each fed preheated to the lamination device 34 and laminated together.The material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are each drawn off from a supply roll, not shown in detail, and are each fed to a transport roll 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. From this transport roller 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are fed to a pair of rollers 26. This pair of rollers 26 has two rollers 27, 28 opposite each other, the gap width of which can be adjusted. By means of this pair of rollers 26, the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are brought together at least closely to one another. Heating elements 29, 30, 31, 32 are provided between the transport rollers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and the roller pair 26. These heating elements 29, 30, 31, 32 are each arranged between two adjacent material webs 14, 15 and 15, 16 and 16, 17 and 17, 18, so that these heating elements 29, 30, 31, 32 each at least preheat the surfaces of the two adjacent material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Between the transport rollers 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and the roller pair 26, the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are guided in a cantilevered manner. These material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are guided along the heating elements 29, 30, 31, 32 in a freely floating manner, for example. In addition, guide rollers, not shown in detail, can be provided in order to ensure a defined distance of the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 from the heating elements 29, 30, 31, 32.The material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 fed to the roller pair 26 are positioned at least closely adjacent to one another by the roller pair 26. Subsequently, the material layers 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are fed to a laminating device 34. The material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are laminated to form a film composite 11 which is subsequently led out of the lamination device 34. This film composite 11 can be supplied directly to further processing stations. Alternatively, the film composite 11 can be wound onto a roll and subsequently provided for further processing. Furthermore, the film composite 11 can be cut and / or stamped into a format.The number of material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 shown in FIG. 2 is only exemplary. At least two, preferably at least three, material webs can be provided in order to form a film composite 11.The material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 consist, for example, of a film or a layer of a thermoplastic elastomer. In particular, these consist of an organic polymer material. This organic polymer material can be selected from a group consisting of PC (polycarbonate, in particular bisphenol A polycarbonate), PET (polyethylene glycol terephthalate), PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate), TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane elastomers), PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), PI (polyimide or poly-trans-isoprene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), polystyrene, polyacrylates and methacrylates, vinyl esters, ABS and copolymers of such polymers, cycloolefin copolymers, polysulfones, polyesters, PET, PEN, polycarbonate / polyester blends, for example PC / CoPET, polycarbonate / polycyclohexylmethanol cyclohexanedicarboxylate, in particular polycarbonates or copolycarbonates based on diphenols, polyacrylates or copolycarbonates, Polymethacrylates or copolycarbonates, polymethacrylates or copolymers with styrene, thermoplastic polyurethanes, polyolefins, polycondensates or copolycondensates of terephthalic acid or naphthalenedicarboxylic acid or mixtures thereof, particularly preferably polycarbonates or copolycarbonates based on diphenols, polyacrylates or copolycarbonates, polymethacrylates or copolymethacrylates, polycondensates or copolycondensates of terephthalic acid or naphthalenedicarboxylic acid or mixtures thereof.Furthermore, it can be provided that at least one material web is formed from paper or a paper-like material or from a paper, plastic, composite material. One or more material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 can comprise at least one electronic component, such as a sensor, an RFID, an IC module or the like.The at least one heating element 29, 30, 31, 32 can be designed as an infrared radiation device or as a hot air blower or the like.The lamination device 34 can be designed as a roll laminate or as a plate laminate.FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the method to FIG. 2. In this embodiment, it is provided that the roller pair 26 consists of two heated rollers 27, 28. In addition, these rollers 27, 28 are set to a roller nip at which the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 guided through are pressed together. As a result, the cavities between the surfaces of the individual material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are emptied in a targeted manner and an almost complete contact of the surfaces of the individual material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 is achieved before they are introduced into the lamination device 34. The heated rollers 27, 28 can be heated to a temperature which lies in the range of the glass transition temperature of the respective material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18.The at least one heating element 29, 30, 31, 32 can be used to preheat the surface of the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, which is preferably set to the glass transition temperature of the respective material web 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 or slightly higher. As a result, the surfaces of the material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 are melted, as a result of which a more rapid lamination of the individual material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 can subsequently take place.In the method illustrated in FIG. 2 and in FIG. 3 for producing a film composite 11, instead of one or more material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, a partial composite corresponding to a material web 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 can also be supplied. Thus, for example, in a first production step in a prelaminater 3 according to FIG. 1 of the lamination device 34 according to FIG. 2 or FIG. 3, the card core assembly 12 for a value or security document can be created from a number of material webs 14, 15, 16, 17, 18 which is formed smaller by at least one material web than the film assembly 11 or is the number of material webs of the film assembly 11 for the value or security document. Subsequently, this card core assembly 12 is fed like a material web 14 together with further material webs 15, 16, 17, 18 to the lamination device 34 or to a further lamination device, in order to then complete the film assembly 11.List of reference characters11 Film composite 12 card core composite 14 material web 15 material web 16 material web 17 material web 18 material web 21 transport roller 22 transport roller 23 transport roller 24 transport roller 25 transport roller 26 roller pair 27 roller 28 roller 29 heating element 30 heating element 31 heating element 32 heating element 34 lamination device 36 IC module 37 IC chip 38 antenna

Claims

Method for producing a film composite (11) from a plurality of material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) for a value or security document, in which each material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) is transported along at least one transport roller (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) and fed to at least one lamination device (34), - wherein each surface of the material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) which is laminated to an adjacent material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) is preheated with at least one heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) after leaving the last transport roller (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) upstream of the lamination device (34) and before entering the lamination device (34), and between two adjacent material webs (14, 15; 15, 16; 16, 17; 17.18) at least one heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) is positioned by which the surfaces of the adjacent material webs (14, 15; 15, 16; 16, 17; 17.18) facing each other and to be laminated are preheated, - wherein the preheated material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) are brought together with a pair of rollers (26) and then supplied to the lamination device (34) and laminated together to form the film composite (11), characterized in that - two or more material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) are formed from a thermoplastic elastomer, and - that the respective heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) is controlled with a heating power, so that the surface of these material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) is preheated to a temperature which corresponds to the glass transition temperature of the respective material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) or is higher.Method according to claim 1, characterised in that the at least one heating element (29, 30, 31, 32) is positioned between the last transport roller (21, 22, 23, 24, 25) in front of the lamination device (34) and the roller pair (26) and the surfaces of the material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) to be heated are guided past the respective heating element (29, 32) in a freely floating manner.Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the roller pair (26) consists of two rollers (27, 28) forming a gap, which rollers are heated.Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the material web (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) fed to the roller pair (26) is compressed by the roller pair (26).Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the material webs (14, 15, 16, 17, 18) are fed to a roll laminator or plate laminator as a lamination device (34).Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an infrared radiation device or a hot air fan is used as heating element (29, 30, 31, 32).

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