Lamination
The lamination ( Latin lamina "plate, disk, sheet") describes on the one hand a cohesive, thermal joining process without auxiliary materials. On the other hand, this means the connection of a thin, often film-like layer with a carrier material by means of an adhesive, as well as the connection of at least two film layers of a thermoplastic by reaching the glass transition temperature and corresponding pressure. The term can also be found, for example, in laminates .
Lamination types
Hot lamination
The adhesive of the foil pouch, which is solid at room temperature, fuses with the document . To do this, the paper is placed in the film and fed in a laminating device over hot rollers or between two heating plates that thermally bond the plastic at around 60 to 80 ° C.
Cold lamination
There is a normal adhesive in the foil pocket. Cold lamination can also be done by hand without special equipment.
Lamination by pressing
In this process, a stack of at least two foils first goes through a heating press and then a cooling press. In the heating press, the thermoplastics are pressed together at high temperatures. If the glass transition temperature is exceeded, the foils bond at their interfaces and are then again cooled under pressure in a cooling press so that they weld to form a monoblock. This method is preferred for ID documents and smart cards with an integrated RFID chip.
Properties of laminated documents
The lamination makes the document water-resistant and washable. The security against forgery increases, since subsequent processing of the sealed document is not possible without considerable effort. Authorities often do not recognize subsequently laminated documents, as the authenticity can then no longer be proven beyond doubt. The same can also be done e.g. B. apply to monthly tickets of the public transport company or similar.
application areas
- Laminating ID documents to increase protection against forgery. For example, the
old ID card of the Federal Republic of Germany was laminated. - Laminating cards with an integrated RFID chip such as company ID cards, contactless payment cards, ski cards
- Laminating photos to protect them from dirt and abrasion
- Laminating documents that are frequently used, e.g. B. Menus
- Laminating documents that will be exposed to water (rain, splashes during water sports), e.g. B. Notices or maps
- Laminating of reusable templates, which can be written on with foil pens and reusable
Laminating foils
Laminating foils are mostly sold as so-called laminating bags. These are folded in the middle. This makes it easier to straighten documents. The distance to the edge should be at least 4 millimeters on all sides so that the foils are welded watertight.
There are different thicknesses of laminating foils. The information is usually given in micrometers (µm, often also referred to as µ , Mic , Mi or Mü ) and relates to one “half” of the film. For example, if “80 mic” is specified, the thickness of a laminated document is 160 micrometers plus the thickness of the paper.
The old identity card of the Federal Republic of Germany has a thickness of 2 × 125 µm + paper thickness.
| foil | use |
|---|---|
| 80 mic | photos |
| 100 mic | Handcraft |
| 125 mic | ID cards |
| 175 mic | Menus |
| 250 mic | Outside signs |
Simple laminators can often only hot-laminate up to 125 microns. Some can cold laminate 200 microns. Cold laminating foils are glued (not welded) under pressure by the rollers.
Laminators
When it comes to devices, a distinction can be made between simple laminating devices for home use and professional devices for continuous use. Devices for home use are already available for less than 20 euros . They usually support both lamination processes, hot and cold, but have the disadvantage that they cannot be hot lamination in continuous operation. After about 30 minutes, these devices have to cool down before they can continue working. Even after hot lamination, the device has to cool down for about 30 minutes before cold lamination can be carried out. The warm-up time is about 5 minutes.
Professional laminators are not only faster (laminated surface per minute), they are also suitable for continuous use. They mostly consist of a heating press and a cooling press. With some older devices it may be necessary to use an additional carrier (carrier made of two sheets of heavy paper) in order to evenly distribute the pressure of the device rollers on the laminating foils.
Devices must be cleaned after a few runs, as liquid glue will contaminate the rollers. To do this, you let the folded paper run through the hot rollers several times, with the fold first, until no more glue residue sticks to the clean paper.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Ebner, Claus: Smart Card Production Environment. In: Mayes, Keith E., Markantonatikis, Konstantinos: Smart Cards, Tokens, Security and Applications. Springer Science + Business Media, 2008, pp. 1–26
- ↑ Data sheet for the new ID card. ( Memento of the original from April 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Bundesdruckerei , October 31, 2011
