The performance of any clear protective UV coating for banknotes or other document is dependent upon the effective thickness of the applied coating layer. In addition, the extent of curing or crosslinking has a direct effect on the performance and resistance of the coating and also carries an important figure of merit on the health and safety properties of the product. Herein, the coat weight deposited during the printing process was determined by quantitative analysis of Sb by ICP-OES. Due to the porosity of most paper substrates, the coat weight alone is not an accurate indication of the effective coating on the banknote surface. The layer thickness of the coating was further estimated by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy immediately after curing, as well as on banknotes withdrawn from circulation. To determine the extent of curing, the residual unreacted monomers were extracted and quantified by GC-MS and UPLC-MS.

Analytical characterization of protective varnish for banknotes

254th National Meeting (2017)

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