Combined process of printing and forming a hologram

A method of treating sheet material of a given area, comprising the steps of:

• providing a transfer surface containing at least one physically defined area of a discrete surface relief light diffraction pattern that is significantly less than the sheet material defined area,
• applying casting resin in liquid form to said at least one discrete pattern area in a manner to substantially avoid coating any other areas of said transfer surface,
• contacting at least one side of said sheet material with said resin coated discrete pattern area, thereby to contact said sheet material with said resin in a discrete area corresponding to the discrete pattern area of the transfer surface,
• directing actinic radiation to said resin in a manner to harden said resin and cause it to adhere to said sheet material while being held against the sheet material without movement therebetween by the transfer surface relief pattern,
• separating said transfer sheet discrete pattern area from the hardened resin, thereby to leave the hardened resin in place on said sheet material with the surface relief pattern contained therein,
• coating substantially only the hardened resin in said discrete area with a reflective material in a manner to follow the surface relief pattern, and
• thereafter printing a visual pattern on said at least one side of said sheet material,
• whereby said sheet material is treated with both conventional printing and a light diffraction pattern.

A method of mass producing replicas on sheets of material of a surface relief light diffraction pattern, comprising the steps of:

• providing a master of said surface relief light diffraction pattern in a defined area and attached to a carrier in a manner to be substantially surrounded by regions without a surface relief pattern,
• applying casting resin in liquid form to the surface relief master in a manner to substantially avoid coating said surrounding regions of said carrier,
• contacting one side of a sheet of material with at least the resin coated surface relief master, thereby to contact said sheet material with said resin in an area corresponding to that of the surface relief master,
• curing said resin while being held inbetween the sheet material and the surface relief master without movement therebetween, thereby to substantially harden the resin in attachment with said sheet material, and
• separating said surface relief master from the hardened resin and sheet material, thereby to leave the hardened resin in place on said sheet material with the surface relief light diffraction pattern of said master contained in a surface thereof, and
• repeating the foregoing steps on additional sheets in sequence, thereby casting the same replicas of said surface relief diffraction pattern on a plurality of sheets of material.

A method of mass producing replicas of a surface relief hologram on sheets of material with a given set of dimensions, comprising the following steps for each sheet:

• providing a master of said surface relief hologram of defined dimensions and attached to a carrier in a manner to be substantially surrounded by regions without a surface relief pattern,
• applying casting resin in liquid form to the surface relief master in a manner to substantially avoid coating said surrounding regions of said carrier,
• contacting one side of said sheet with at least the resin coated surface relief master, thereby to contact said sheet material with said resin in an area having dimensions corresponding to said defined dimensions of the surface relief hologram master,
• curing said resin while being held inbetween the sheet and the surface relief master without movement therebetween, thereby to substantially harden the resin in attachment with said sheet, and
• separating said surface relief master from the hardened resin and sheet, thereby to leave the hardened resin in place on said sheet material with the surface relief hologram pattern of said master contained therein.

A method of treating a plurality of sheets of material, comprising the steps of:

• (a) forming a surface relief light diffraction pattern on one side of one of the plurality of sheets by the following steps:
• providing a master of said surface relief light diffraction pattern,
• applying casting resin in liquid form to the surface relief master,
• contacting said one sheet side with the resin coated surface relief master,
• curing said resin while being held inbetween the sheet and the surface relief master without movement therebetween, thereby to substantially harden the resin in attachment with said sheet material, and
• separating said surface relief master from the hardened resin and sheet material, thereby to leave the hardened resin in place on said sheet material with the surface relief light diffraction pattern of said master contained therein,
• (b) printing a visual pattern with ink on said one sheet side in a continuous process with the foregoing diffraction pattern replication steps, and
• (c) repeating the foregoing steps on additional sheets in sequence, thereby printing and forming surface relief diffraction pattern replicas on said plurality of sheets of material.

A method of mass producing multiple replicas of a surface relief light diffraction pattern on flexible substrate material, comprising the steps of:

• holding a liquid casting resin between a defined area of the substrate material and a master of said surface relief pattern in a manner that said defined area of the substrate is substantially surrounded by regions without any liquid resin held thereagainst,
• curing said resin while being held between the substrate material and the surface relief master without movement therebetween, thereby to substantially harden the resin in attachment with said substrate material, and
• separating said surface relief master from the hardened resin and substrate material, thereby to leave the hardened resin in place on said substrate material with the surface relief light diffraction pattern of said master contained in a surface thereof, and
• repeating the foregoing steps on additional areas of the substrate material that are non-overlapping with said defined area, thereby casting multiple replicas of said surface relief diffraction pattern.

A method of treating substrate material, comprising the steps of:

• (a) repeatedly forming a plurality of surface relief light diffraction patterns along a length of the substrate material on one side thereof, by the following steps:
• holding a liquid casting resin between the substrate material and a master of said surface relief pattern,
• curing said resin while being held between the substrate material and the surface relief master without movement therebetween, thereby to substantially harden the resin in attachment with said substrate material, and
• separating said surface relief master from the hardened resin and substrate material, thereby to leave the hardened resin in place on said substrate material with the surface relief light diffraction pattern of said master contained therein, and
• (b) repeatedly printing a given visual pattern with ink along the length of said one substrate side in a continuous process with the foregoing diffraction pattern forming steps.