LEXAN™ Polycarbonate Secure ID Grades

Product Summary

Demand for security and ID cards with innovative ways to foil the escalating threat of counterfeits, fraud, and identity theft continues to surge. But how do you fit all those countermeasures into a card while keeping it thin enough to share a wallet or purse already stuffed to the gills with myriad others?

How do you make sure passport data pages are tough enough to take the beating backpacker travel dishes out? By making them with LEXAN™ polycarbonate film, from SABIC.

LEXAN is an amorphous engineering thermoplastic resin with benefits such as impressive impact strength, long-term durability, crystal-clear transparency, and high heat resistance. And the LEXAN SD series is specifically designed for security and ID cards. It comes in various grades and gauges designed with your organization’s needs, and those of your customers, in mind.

As North America’s largest authorized, value-adding distributor of LEXAN polycarbonate films with five film centers – three in the USA, one in Canada, and one in Mexico – PolymerFilms makes it fast and easy to order polycarbonate films for your secure IDs and cards. Not sure about which grade(s) to choose? Our experts will help you make the right decision and ensure value for money.

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Product Benefits

Makes it easy to control card thickness after lamination

The white layer is highly opaque for hiding embedded security features to prevent counterfeiting, even at thin gauges

Text, graphics, and photos remain clearly visible after long periods of normal wear and tear (up to 10 years)

Cards and documents retain their shape and stability at temperatures up to 135°C (275°F)

High flatness before and after thermoforming/lamination for a consistent shape

Makes printing, hologram hot-stamping, and lamination easy

Clear, sharp definition of text and bar codes printed with a 1,064-nm laser

Gauges ranging from 30 to 620 µm keep IDs thin to minimize space and weight while stiff and tear-resistant

Fine Gauge Tolerances
Hides Security Features (LEX-SEC)
High Abrasion Resistance
High Temperature Resistance (LEX-SEC)
Low Shrinkage (0.10-0.19%)
Optimized Textures
Outstanding Laser Markability
Thin Gauges (LEX-SEC)

Challenges and Solutions

1.
While a single card might not be expensive, buying them in their hundreds and thousands quickly adds up. What’s more, ID and security cards are not usually a profit generator for end-user organizations, so replacing damaged cards is a drain on funds that could be put to better use elsewhere.
The durability of LEXAN polycarbonates means cards and documents are harder to damage. As such, they offer better cost performance per unit over the life of the product, thus reducing replacement costs for your organization, or those of your customers.
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2.
There’s no shortage of fraudsters trying to game the system. Whether it’s identity thieves posing as someone else to steal money or information, or more ominously terrorists altering passports to deceive border guards, ID tampering can threaten livelihoods and lives.
Heat/pressure lamination of overlays and inlays prevents counterfeiters from tampering with printed core stock and photos by separating the layers, because the cards are adhesive-free.
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3.
You have developed an innovative security feature for ID cards, but want to keep it effectively invisible so criminals are not aware it exists. It needs to be sandwiched between two layers of film and not be visible when held up to the light.
The feature may be placed between two layers of LEXAN SD8B24 opaque white core stock film, with laser printing strategically placed to hide any silhouette.
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Frequently Asked Questions


Gauges range from 30 – 550 µm for polycarbonate overlay film, and 30 – 620 µm for core stock. Please click on the PDF for the film type in question for available gauges, or contact us to discuss your options.


LEXAN polycarbonate films are available in clear transparent for overlays, and clear transparent or opaque white for core stock.


This depends on the film. The overlay SC8A12E film has a glossy coating on one side and a matte finish on the other. The overlay SD8A92 film is polished on one side and fine matte on the other. The other two overlays (SD8B14 and SD14UV) and the two core stock films (SD8B24 and SD8B94) have a fine velvet finish on one side and a fine matte finish on the other.


Please contact your nearest PolymerFilms center by phone or email, fill in the contact form, or request a quote.

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