Product category:
Printing materials, equipment and services
News Release from: DataLase | Subject: Datalase
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 06 January 2005
Permanent Brand Counterfeiting Safeguard
Sherwood Technology's Datalase, the colour change technique is being used in the fight against brand counterfeiting.
Sherwood Technology's Datalase, the colour change technique is being used in the fight against brand counterfeiting Datalase and Datalase Clear can be used for brand protection and security applications by providing products with their own unique mark
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 16 Feb 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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By combining substrate conversion and laser energy, a chemistry can be added to inks, coatings and plastics allowing images to be printed at high speeds using low power laser light.
Combining chemistry and substrate conversion, the technology's colour change mechanism can be triggered by low power CO2 laser light energy said Sherwood.
Anti-counterfeiting is a growth market, the objective being to identify luxury or high-value products in a way that minimises their fraudulent reproducibility.
Datalase allows products to be tagged permanently and discreetly, without the mark being removable claimed the company.
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Brochure describes laser marking capabilities
DataLase brochure describes a range of imaging solutions which offer infinite possibilities for printing graphics, security marking and coding products for a range of industries.
It can be used for a range of covert and overt security applications.
Sherwood cited the example that Datalase has the ability to overtly mark a product with its own distinctive 'finger print'.
The finger print, such as a tiny 2D datamatrix code is formed through films, such as polypropylene and polyethylene, allowing it to be permanently embedded or sandwiched in laminates.
The Datalase chemistry is incorporated at the manufacturing stage and can be subsequently laser marked.
The technique can be used in products as diverse as cigarette and cosmetic packaging.
The company believes that it is a particularly effective tool in preventing counterfeiters and grey market trading as the finger print cannot be easily reproduced or removed.
Datalase Clear is claimed to enable the covert checking of a product's authenticity.
It is said to allow images to be transferred on to transparent media via a laser without interfering with the translucency of the underlying substrate.
Counterfeiters are unable to spot the presence of the laser responsive Datalase Clear material as it only becomes visible when exposed to energy from a low power CO2 laser.
The image remains undetectable up to the point where authenticity needs to be verified, which Sherwood believes is a feature not possible with other techniques.
Steve Kelly, managing director of Sherwood Technology, commented: "The application of Datalase for the purpose of security features is a very new and exciting project.
Existing methods have become stagnant and predictable to counterfeiters who find ways around them, however, Datalase has the potential to revolutionise the market.
We expect brand protection applications to be key development areas." Datalase security applications will be available as a result of new and existing application licensing agreements and strategic partnerships with security substrate manufacturers, explained Kelly.
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