Technologies
Not an expert in plastic card personalization? Want to know more about it? Check out this section for full details on the technologies used by Evolis.
See how Evolis printers operate: printing, rewritable printing, lamination, holograms, encoding of barcodes, magnetic stripes, and contact/contactless smart cards.
Card printing
PVC cards, broadly known as plastic cards, require printers other than the traditional consumer-grade inkjet or laser printers, because of their smooth surface. Thermal transfer is the process that is specific to plastic cards.
Rewritable printing
Rewritable printing technology does not require a ribbon to personalize cards. The card itself holds a thermosensitive material that turns visible when heated to a temperature of 356° F (180° C) and then rapidly cooled.
Holograms
A hologram is an advanced form of photography that allows an image to be recorded in three dimensions.
Lamination
The process called card lamination is the application of a protective polyester film onto a card’s surface to protect it from wear and tear and UV rays, and to fight forgery.
Barcodes
A bar code is the first-level encoding option for plastic cards, and it is the most widely used method as well. Graphical encoding is performed as the badge is being printed.
Encoding magnetic stripes
A magnetic stripe is the dark band/stripe which is featured on the reverse of a bank card, for example. The stripe is made up of tiny magnetic particles embedded in a resin.
Encoding contact smart cards
Contact smart cards have been in use over the past 25 years, and more than a billion cards have been circulated so far.
Encoding contactless Smart cards
A contactless card operates without any physical link with the reader: communication is performed through microwave frequencies.