Soft Touch Resin Transaction Card Frame
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional transaction cards made from PVC or PC lack a soft touch feel, and existing soft touch coatings are not durable enough, increasing manufacturing costs and complexity.
Innovation Solution
A transaction card with a card frame formed from a resin mixture comprising a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) and acetal homopolymer or polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), providing a Shore D hardness of 20-80, which inherently offers a soft touch feel without the need for additional coatings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If soft touch coatings are applied to PVC or PC transaction cards, then the tactile quality is improved, but the durability deteriorates and manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the soft touch property from separate coatings and integrates it directly into the base resin material. By incorporating soft touch agents or modifying the resin composition, the soft touch feel becomes an inherent property of the card material itself, eliminating the need for additional coating layers and their associated durability issues.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the soft touch functionality with the structural resin material by combining soft touch agents with PVC or PC resins. This creates a unified material system where the soft touch property and the card's structural integrity are integrated into a single homogeneous material, preventing separation or wear of distinct layers.
2Ease of operation
If soft touch coatings are applied to transaction cards, then the tactile quality is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the separate soft touch coating step from the manufacturing process by integrating the soft touch property directly into the resin material. This eliminates additional manufacturing steps such as coating application, drying, and curing, thereby reducing process complexity and improving throughput.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the soft touch agent incorporation with the existing resin mixing and card manufacturing process. By adding soft touch agents during the resin compounding stage, the soft touch property is achieved as part of the standard manufacturing workflow, eliminating the need for separate coating operations.
3Ease of operation
If additional soft touch coating layers are applied, then the tactile quality is improved, but the card thickness increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the soft touch functionality from additional external layers and embeds it within the existing card thickness. By incorporating soft touch agents into the resin material itself, the soft touch property is achieved without adding external coating layers, thereby maintaining the card's original thickness specifications.
Data Source
AI summary
Apparatuses and methods are provided for manufacturing a transaction card. The disclosed apparatuses and methods may be used to form a transaction card frame configured to house a data storage component. The card frame may be formed of a resin mixture comprising a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE). The card frame may also have a Shore D hardness in the range of 20-80.