Packaging security printing

Fake and shoddy products have become rampant and hinder economic development and interfere with China's market economic order. How to use product packaging for effective anti-counterfeiting is a major issue for us. But packaging security is a wide subject, such as anti-counterfeit decoration, printing anti-counterfeit, bar code, code anti-counterfeiting, comprehensive anti-counterfeiting management technology, ancillary products and functions of integrated anti-counterfeiting, scrapping technology and warning technology anti-counterfeiting, etc. This article will discuss the product packaging and printing At the time of implementation of the anti-counterfeiting process and development.

1 Packaging anti-counterfeit printing requirements

Packaging anti-counterfeiting printing is the process of anti-counterfeiting when printing graphic and text information on packaging products. It has the following features:

1) Beautiful. Packaging printing can greatly improve the artistic effect of printed materials through printing, giving products new vitality, inspiring consumers' desire to purchase, and increasing the added value of products.

2) Security. The use of special designs, special materials, special techniques, and special equipment to process the printed products has a unique effect that is difficult to imitate and serves as an anti-counterfeiting effect.

3) Practical. As a packaged product, it is mainly used for packaging. The printing process must consider the practicality of the package, such as lamination, coating, die-cutting, and indentation. Packaging anti-counterfeit printing process is: pre-print security design, anti-counterfeit printing material selection, anti-counterfeiting, printing, printing, anti-counterfeit processing, the following will elaborate one by one.

2 pre-press security design

The pre-press anti-counterfeiting design mainly refers to the three parts of structural design, modeling design and decoration design of packaging products. The three parts of the design content not only have certain independence but also have mutual integration and coordination.

j, through the perfect combination of the three, to achieve packaging anti-counterfeiting design "scientific, beautiful, applicable, security, economic, promotional, environmental protection" requirements. For example, the packaging prints pass many fine, detailed patterns and geometric patterns to prevent counterfeiters from using the color copiers and electric extensions to scan for counterfeiting; the bottom paper is printed with a colorless ink or special ink similar to the base paper color. Long-distance sightlessness, near-view effects are very exquisite, regular intensive patterns or irregular texture patterns, to achieve a better anti-counterfeiting effect; can also use microtext, concealed place for the design of secret notes, such as some of the goods The text is indented to the naked eye and can be embedded in a small, faintly recognizable word, or a larger, more pronounced text stroke is removed to make a gap, which makes people mistakenly believe that it is a defect in printing; or add a little to the fine geometric pattern. The line point is also an excellent method for anti-counterfeiting design; the structure design adopts a novel type of lid opening and an anti-counterfeiting structure with a non-openable bottom. This type of box cannot be reused twice, so the anti-counterfeit effect is very good.

3 packaging security printing materials

Packaging Anti-counterfeit printing materials vary, but mainly paper and ink, and they have special requirements.

3.1 security paper

In the papermaking process, various anti-counterfeiting technologies are used to produce various anti-counterfeiting papers for printing packaging labels or packaging papers to achieve anti-counterfeiting. At present, there are mainly the following paper anti-counterfeiting technologies.

1) Laser holography technology. The laser hologram technology was used to directly fabricate the laser holographic pattern on the paper to make a laser hologram security paper.

2) Watermarking technology. In the process of paper web forming, this technique uses a watermark with an engraved texture to roll the printing paper surface when the paper sheet has just interweaved with a certain amount of moisture, so that the wet tissue part is displaced to form different fiber densities. Various graphic, digital, or text watermarks with light and shade textures.

Some companies also filed their own special watermark patterns with specific management departments. At the same time, papermaking companies no longer manufacture the same special-purpose paper for other users. Although this has increased the cost of paper, it has also greatly increased the cost of the paper. Its anti-counterfeiting effect is ideal.

3) Special additive technology.

(1) Add colored filaments. Color fiber filaments are colored fibers that are distributed on the paper surface and have different colors from the paper. The color, length, thickness, degree of exposure and distribution of the fibers are somewhat different.

(2) Join the security line. Security lines refer to the embedding of opaque long strips of metal or plastic tape in all or part of the paper, often with transparent or holographic microtext information, magnetic information, etc. The production of security lines requires high papermaking technologies and complicated processes, especially the security of open windows (intermittently exposed). This kind of security thread is buried in the paper for a period of time, and is exposed on the surface of the paper. Forging is quite difficult. In recent years, it has also introduced a heat-sensitive security cord that is pink at room temperature and opaque. As long as the temperature is increased to 37 degrees with a finger, localized microtext will appear.

(3) Add fluorescent fibers. In the papermaking process, colorless fluorescent fiber strips are added to the pulp in proportions. The paper can display fluorescent fiber strips under ultraviolet excitation, which can serve as a public identification function.

(4) Add trace amounts of additives. Using the principle that organisms have an anti-body-specific response, a very small amount of anti-elements is added to a certain part of pulp or paper. When detecting, it is combined with the corresponding specific antibody, and the presence or absence of the reaction of the marker, fluorescence, etc. is used to distinguish the authenticity from the others.

4) Chemical technology. Chemically-encrypted paper is made by adding special compounds to the pulp when it is added to the surface of the paper or when sizing on the surface of the paper. The paper is colored or exhibits fluorescence when coated with specific chemical reagents.

5) Special equipment technology. Papermaking uses special equipment, such as special anti-counterfeit paper for ion media, relying on the state-controlled large-scale heavy ion accelerators to integrate the ion micropore technology and papermaking technology into a special anti-counterfeit paper for super ion media. Also for example, the use of laser anti-counterfeiting technology and special equipment combined with paper can be made of laser anti-counterfeiting paper.

3.2 security ink

Anti-counterfeiting inks add special functional materials to ordinary inks, thus providing anti-counterfeiting functions. The anti-counterfeit product obtained by this ink printing is low in cost and convenient in inspection. Anti-counterfeiting inks have the following preparation methods.

1) The use of mechanical methods (force deformation, force-induced heat, force-induced sound, etc.).

For example, the anti-counterfeiting label for force-induced change, its special functional material is microcapsules on the outer layer, dyestuffs on the inner layer, and it is mixed and printed with common inks. When the test is performed, the labeling surface needs to be pressed with force, and the capsule ruptures due to external force. The dye is released, the color changes immediately, and the color of the capsule dye is arbitrarily chosen to obtain a variety of anti-counterfeiting effects.

2) Thermodynamic methods (thermochromic, thermochromic). For example, adding thermochromic materials to the ink, if the ambient temperature changes, the color will change accordingly to achieve anti-counterfeiting effect.

3) Use electrical methods (electrochromism, electroluminescence). Such as electrochromic ink, it is added to some ordinary functional materials (such as tungsten trioxide, conductive polymers, etc.), when the DC voltage is applied to it, the structure of the functional material will change the color appearance of the ink will change.

4) Use optical methods (photochromism, photoluminescence, invisible discoloration, etc.). For example, fluorescent ink, which is a fluorescent material added to ordinary ink, when ultraviolet light, it will emit visible light, to achieve anti-counterfeiting purposes.

5) According to the customer's needs, the use of anti-counterfeit ink formulations with special brand of goods, with the uniqueness of the strong, can be characterized by anti-counterfeit ink products to protect the product's purpose.

4 anti-counterfeit printing, printing

Graphic information on packaging materials needs to be reproduced through printing. Traditional analog printing and modern digital printing can be used for printing.

Due to the large volume of printing of packaging materials, the traditional analog printing is currently used to complete the printing process, and plate making is required. Therefore, in order to achieve anti-counterfeit requirements, generally use special plate making techniques and methods that are difficult to imitate, such as hand-engraving plates with local patterns of RMB, and the printing effect is difficult to imitate. Similarly, although the commonly used gravure printing has a certain anti-counterfeiting effect, it is easy to copy. Therefore, printing can not be just the same as the general printing (flat, convex, concave, hole), using a variety of processes such as flat, convex, concave, hole mixed printing, play a certain anti-counterfeiting effect. For example, when a scratch-off prize ticket is printed, a combination of flat, convex, hole, and ink-jet printing is used, and the anti-counterfeit effect is better. It also uses multi-color printing technology to print a variety of colors at a time, and the middle transition of the pattern is soft and difficult to copy.
5 post-press security processing

Post-press anti-counterfeiting processing is based on the practicality of packaging and anti-counterfeit requirements for the corresponding surface finishing processing, such as coating, glazing, die-cutting, indentation, embossing, etc. In the process of processing, as far as practicality is concerned, new finishing materials and special processes are used as far as possible. For example, a novel type of cover opening and a security structure with no opening at the bottom of the box, the cover and the cover of the opening portion of the box cover are sealed together with a strong bond, and the bottom of the box is processed into an unopenable structure, and the box body There is a breakpoint indentation at the back (cut from the box body at the same time). Consumers only need to press the lid with their hands, and the thumb presses on the breakpoint to lift the lid. This box is impossible to open again. It is reused twice, so the anti-counterfeiting effect is very good.

6 The development of packaging security printing

From the above, we can see that packaging security printing generally adopts the latest materials, the latest technology, the latest design, and the latest equipment to implement anti-counterfeiting through various aspects of the production of packaging products, so as to achieve the purpose that others can hardly imitate. However, with the rapid development of science and technology, "a high degree of loftyness, a high degree of magic", relying solely on a single anti-counterfeiting EOB for packaging security is far from enough. Because the counterfeiters are not waiting for the rest of the generation, how can manufacturers prevent them? I believe that the implementation of comprehensive anti-counterfeiting packaging is an effective countermeasure. The integrated packaging anti-counterfeiting technology is guided by management science and breaks through the limitations of pure science and technology anti-counterfeit thoughts. It uses packaging materials with extremely strong anti-counterfeiting capabilities as its carrier, organically applies various anti-counterfeiting science and technology and management techniques, and sells inferior products in accordance with fake counterfeiting. In order to prevent the counterfeiting and counterfeit distribution of inferior products, we have designed and manufactured packaging products with extremely strong anti-counterfeiting capabilities and comprehensive anti-counterfeiting technologies with mandatory management measures. The integrated packaging anti-counterfeiting technology basically includes anti-counterfeiting science and technology, subsidiary product function technology, management technology, basic material technology, EOBU technology, structural form technology, warning language technology, and end-of-life technology. The use of multiple technologies in the production of packaging products can prevent counterfeiting of the packaged products to the maximum extent.

One problem that needs to be emphasized is that the current packaging anti-counterfeiting EOBU often focuses on anti-counterfeiting, but it does not pay attention to the misunderstandings of the consumer's recognition ability and level, and the anti-counterfeiting effect is not ideal. At the same time, it is easy to ignore green packaging when packaging, and it is not consistent with the sustainable development of circular economy. theory. Effective anti-counterfeiting methods should be easy for consumers to identify without the need for professional knowledge, the use of technology is extremely difficult to imitate, anti-counterfeit, low cost, and the use of green packaging materials, green processing and manufacturing technology in product packaging, this is the packaging security EOBU's direction of development.

Reprinted from: Printing Technology