Radiation imagery chemistry: process – composition – or product th – Imaging affecting physical property of radiation sensitive... – Radiation sensitive composition or product or process of making
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-26
2002-09-10
Ashton, Rosemary (Department: 1752)
Radiation imagery chemistry: process, composition, or product th
Imaging affecting physical property of radiation sensitive...
Radiation sensitive composition or product or process of making
C430S286100, C430S281100, C428S448000, C428S500000, C428S915000, C428S421000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06447979
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an image recording body and a transfer foil which are suitably applied to a contact- or non-contact type electronic or magnetic card, sheet, and the like, which store personal information and the like for which security is demanded to prevent forgery, altetration and the like.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
In recent years, contact- or non-contact-type electronic or magnetic cards, and the like, have increasingly been issued in the field of service industry such as banks, business organizations, educational institutions, public agencies, and the like. Personal information such as a portrait, a name, and the like, is recorded on image recording bodies such as cash cards, employee cards, company membership cards, membership cards, student cards, aliens registration cards, various types of license cards, and the like, which are employed in various fields. Accordingly, these cards are subjected to security treatment so that forgery as well as altetration is not readily carried out.
For example, a hologram layer is provided onto a card substrate and a special image is formed so that a portrait, a name, issue date, and the like are not readily imitated. Said image is generally called a diffraction grating image or athologram image. Said hologram image is formed employing interference infringes obtained by overlapping waves which are reflected from a body or transmitted through a body with the reference waves. By employing said hologram image, the image of the body is stereoscopically reproduced. The surface of the hologram layer is covered with a protective sheet having high light transmission. Employed as said protective sheet are transparent resins and the like which are employed for lamination, and the hologram layer, which exhibits less strength than the card substrate, is covered with the protective sheet and thereby protected.
Heretofore, frequently employed as transparent resins for protective layers, as well as protective sheets, are actinic light-hardened resins. Actinic light-hardened resins, especially ultraviolet radiation-hardened resins, are mainly divided into two types, that is, cation polymerization type resins and radical polymerization type resins. In the cation polymerization type resins, compounds, which exhibit strong stimuli to human body and pollute the environment, have frequently been employed as polymerization initiators. Accordingly, the radical polymerization type resins have preferably been employed in many cases. However, the protective layer comprised of the radical polymerization type actinic light-hardened resins is excessively hard and has had problems in which abrasion is readily caused, and images such as portraits, and the like recorded on an image recording body are not recognizable. On the other hand, a protective layer comprised of the cation polymerization type actinic light-hardened resins is relatively soft in most cases. However, such protective layer is too soft and has also had problems in which abrasion is readily caused.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The inventors of the present invention have diligently investigated the problems and have discovered that in order to clarify the ease of abrasion, a parameter, designated as breaking elongation, plays a big role. It has been found that the radical polymerization type actinic light-hardened resins, which are excessively hard and are readily abraded, have a breaking elongation of 1 to 2 percent, while the cation polymerization type actinic light-hardened resins, which are too soft and are readily abraded, have a breaking elongation of at least 150 percent.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to obtain an actinic light-hardened resin layer which is neither too hard nor too soft and tends not to suffer abrasion, while paying attention to the parameter designated as breaking elongation. Further, it is another object of the present invention to obtain an abrasion resistant resin layer, as well as a protective layer in addition to the protective layer comprised of an actinic light-hardened resin, and a protective layer employed only to protect the hologram.
The radical polymerization type actinic light-hardened resin layer is preferred environmentally. However, as described above, many of them are very hard, and thus it has been difficult to obtain a resin layer having breaking elongation in the range of the present invention. Accordingly, it is still another object of the present invention to obtain a radical polymerization type actinic light-hardened resin layer which has suitable breaking elongation and is preferred environmentally.
Further, heretofore, when the actinic light-hardened resin layer is provided on an image recording body, a common method has been one in which an actinic light-hardened resin coating composition is directly applied onto said image recording body which has been subjected to image recording, and thereafter actinic light-hardened resin layer is provided by hardening said layer, being subjected to actinic light exposure. However, when such a method is employed, problems have occurred in which the resulting image is not clearly seen due to the non-uniformity of the surface on account of non-uniform coating, the resulting appearance is not preferred due to a slightly yellow-tinted protective layer, and the like.
Thus, the inventors of the present invention have diligently investigated the problems and discovered the following. When a transfer foil is employed which is comprised of an actinic light-hardened resin layer which has been subjected to hardening, employing actinic light exposure, and exhibits breaking elongation in the range of the present invention, it is possible to obtain an image recording body which exhibits excellent transferability, surface properties, and abrasion resistance while transferring the actinic light-hardened resin layer onto the image recording body which has been subjected to image recording. Further, it has been found that compared to the coating method, the transfer method exhibits advantages in which the protective layer may be provided at high speed and maintainability is improved.
Accordingly, it is a further object of the present invention to obtain a resin layer (a protective layer) transfer foil which makes it possible to obtain an image recording body which is readily transferred, and further exhibits excellent surface properties as well as excellent abrasion resistance.
Further, a precaution is required to minimize blocking of the transfer foil when wound in a roll and stored for an extended period of time. Namely, it is a still further object of the present invention to minimize blocking of the transfer foil.
Further, according to the production method of cards using the conventional system, for instance, a laminate film and a hologram sheet are separately formed, and after passing through a laminating process, the extra laminate film is trimmed. Excellent forgery preventing functions are particularly demanded for photo-bearing company membership cards, driver's license cards, and the like, and further, demanded are excellent surface protective properties, surface abrasion resistance, as well as excellent design properties and identification properties.
The present invention was achieved to solve the aforementioned problems. It is a still further object of the present invention to provide an image recording body as well as an optical variable device transfer foil which exhibits excellent forgery inhibiting functions, excellent surface protection properties, excellent surface abrasion resistance, extreme difficulty for non-detectable forgery as well as altetration, and further, design properties, and identification properties.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems as well as to achieve objects, the present invention is embodied as described below.
(1) A foil transferring a resin layer comprising a support and an actinic light-hardened resin layer which is transferred, wherein a breaking elongation of the actinic light-hardened resin layer is 5 to 90
Hattori Ryoji
Hidaka Seiji
Kitamura Shigehiro
Takahashi Hideki
Ashton Rosemary
Frishauf Holtz Goodman & Chick P.C.
Konica Corporation
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