Technical recommendations for Smart Card applications:
tesa HAF® 8430 is not self adhesive. It is activated by heat and pressure over a certain interval. The following values are recommendations for machine parameters to start with. Please note that optimum parameters strongly depend on the type of machine, particular materials for card bodies and chip modules as well as customer requirements.
1. Pre-lamination:
During pre-lamination, the adhesive tape is laminated onto the module belt. The pre-lamination step does not affect the shelf life time of the adhesive tape. Pre-laminated belts can be stored over the same period of time as the adhesive tape.
Machine setting:
- Temperature: 120–140 °C
- Pressure: 2–3 bar
- Time: 2.5 m/min
2. Module embedding:
During module embedding, the pre-laminated modules are cut from the module belt, positioned into the card cavity and permanently bonded to the card body by heat and pressure. Depending on the type of implanting line, single-step or multiple-step process are possible. Today, most implanting machines have multiple heat press steps.
Single-step process - machine setting:
- Temperature¹: 180–200 °C
- Pressure: 65–75 N/module
- Time: 1.5 s
Multiple-step process - machine setting:
- Temperature¹: 180–200 °C
- Pressure: 65–75 N/module
- Time: 2 x 0.7 s / 3 x 0.5 s
¹ Temperature measured inside the heating stamp. Different temperature settings recommended for different card materials:
PVC and ABS: 180–190 °C
PET and PC: 190–200 °C
Bonding strength values were obtained under standard laboratory conditions. Value is specification limit checked for each production batch (material: etched aluminum test specimen / bonding conditions: temperature = 120 °C; pressure = 10 bar; time = 8 min). To reach maximum bonding strength, surfaces should be clean and dry.