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AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsThomas Y. Tam, Samir Z. Abdalla, Kwok-Wai Lem, Juergen Wieczoreck
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Security articles comprising elements such as filaments, fibers, including hollow fibers, and threads and thin transverse sections and chopped versions thereof, wherein such elements are dispersed within the articles. Particle scattering and luminescent technology is employed based on scattering, electronic, magnetic and/or light properties to provide compound physical coloration responsive to various portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, including ultraviolet, ambient and infrared. The coloration effects can be highly stable or dependent on specific switching effects linked to, e.g., thermal exposure or actinic radiation. The security articles result in advanced levels of security to avoid counterfeiting of objects including banknote and currency paper, stock and bond certificates, identification, credit, debit and ATM cards, drivers' licenses and bar codes.
A security article comprising a matrix component in which:
A security article comprising at least one first composition and at least one second composition:
A specific embodiment of the subject invention can be described as follows:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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Formation of filaments, threads, or the like: with a hollow structure; Spinnerette packs therefor
Identification or security features, e.g. for preventing forgery: security threads
Formation of filaments, threads, or the like: with a non-circular cross section; Spinnerette packs therefor
Addition of substances to the spinning solution or to the melt: pigments
Term end not estimated
Various methods have been described for imparting coloration, including luminescence, to polymeric compositions and articles, such as fibers, filaments, film, molded objects, etc. To achieve coloration, an additive such as a dye, pigment or luminescent agent such as a doped zinc sulfide, a metal aluminate oxide, a rare earth oxysulfide, a Group 3 inorganic oxide including dopants of, e.g., the Lanthanide series of the Periodic Table of the Elements, has been incorporated into a composition in order to achieve the desired result, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,437 and U.S. Ser. No. 09/790041, filed Feb. 21, 2001. In another approach, coloration has been achieved using particle scattering technology, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,932,309; U.S. Pat. No. 6,074,742; U.S. Pat. No.6,150,019; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,153,299. Each of the identified patents and the patent application is incorporated herein to the extent permitted. For purposes of the present invention, luminescence includes both fluorescence and phosphorescence.
Security fibers are fibers incorporated in documents or other articles for the purpose of ensuring identification, authentication, and protection against forgery, imitation or falsification. The term “security thread” has been employed to describe twisted or braided fibers or strips of film for the same purposes.
German Patent 19802588 describes cellulose fibers containing luminescent additives for security purposes.
Each of the compositions shown in the following table use Honeywell International Inc. nylon 6 (grade MBM, 55 FAV). Except for the control, each of the mixtures is tumble blended for about 2 hours in a twin shell dry mixer with. The components comprising the control and mixtures are dried separately in a vacuum oven at 120° C. overnight. The LUMILUX® pigment, LUMILUX® Red CD 740 is manufactured by Honeywell Specialty Chemicals. The phosphorescent afterglow pigment, designated NYA is a 30 wt. % masterbatch concentrate of a green Luminova® pigment in Nylon 6 (Nemoto Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan). 1 Chemical Sample Component Composition/Type Wt. % 1 MBM Nylon 6 Nylon 6 100 (Control) 2 Lumilux Red CD 740 Inorganic luminescent 5 MBM Nylon 6 pigment 95 Nylon 6 3 AgNO3 masterbatch 0.1 wt. % AgNO3 in 10 Phosphorescent Nylon MBM 3 afterglow* Metal aluminate oxide 5 Lumilux Red CD 740 Inorganic luminescent 82 MBM Nylon 6 pigment Nylon 6 4 AuCl3 masterbatch 0.1 wt. % AuCl3 in 10 Phosphorescent Nylon MBM 3 afterglow* Metal aluminate oxide 5 Lumilux Red CD 740 Inorganic luminescent 82 MBM Nylon 6 pigment Nylon 6
The blended mixture is fed to a Leistritz brand twin screw extruder of 18 mm diameter and 40:1 L/D. The extruder screws have mixing and kneading elements as well as conveying elements. The extruder barrel zone temperatures are set at 250-255° C. The polymer melt is delivered to a Zenith brand gear pump and then passed through a graded screen pack consisting of 17 screens ranging from 20 mesh down to 325 mesh (44 micrometer opening). After passing through the screen pack, the polymer melt issues from a 14 hole spinneret having a capillary diameter of 0.024 inches and a depth of 0.072 inches to produce a round filament cross-section. The issuing melt filaments are solidified by co-current quench air flow at about 19.5° C. The extrusion rate is 44.6 g/min and the initial fiber take-up speed is 579 meters/min. The fiber is drawn 3.3:1 in-line with spinning. Final fiber dimensional and tensile properties (measured by ASTM D2256) 2 Sample 1 2 3 4 Denier/filament: 216 159 157 162 Tenacity, g/d 4.77 4.27 4.22 4.27 Initial Modulus, 25.75 28.22 26.36 31.31 g/d Ultimate 52.28 32.44 29.96 32.28 Elongation, %
The filaments of this example have the complex cross-section shown in FIG. 1 (complexity factor of 7), one component, and when illuminated by a mercury UV lamp, has multiple fluorescent responses with peaks at 622 nanometers (red) and at 880 and 1060 nanometers in the infra-red. Under normal illumination the AgNO3-containing filaments are beige colored and those containing AuCl3 are silver colored. Thin transverse sections of the filaments are cut for use as dots, and chopped filaments are prepared. To prepare security articles, the filaments, dots and chopped filaments are dispersed in a cellulosic matrix, film and plastic cards. The articles display color and luminescent characteristics under appropriate illumination.