SPARTAN™ can accomodate a wide range of overt and covert security features optimised to perform at the note/coin boundary.
Although SPARTAN comes with fewer security features than GUARDIAN, since it's targeted at lower-value denominations under pressure to become coins, it is still highly secure.
The base film for SPARTAN, Propanote™ Opacity W, is imbued with a unique ‘fingerprint’ that enables central banks to authenticate SPARTAN banknotes forensically via machine detection at speed.
A wide range of Level 1, 2 and 3 security features can then be added during the production process.
View Security Features
Level 1 Security Features
Using specialised security inks, these overt, visual and tactile features enable the public and retailers to authenticate a banknote at the point of sale without the need for special equipment.
Level 1 features enable designers to combine aesthetic elements with security features to produce enhance the aesthetic appeal of a banknote while simultaneously increasing reliance against counterfeits.
METALIX™
METALIX™ is a breakthrough metallic effect with a brilliant sheen and lustrous colour, which is enhanced by the smooth and non-porous surface of GUARDIAN polymer banknotes. It has high resistance to chemicals and oxidation, preventing tarnishing of the metallic print colours, and can be applied onto windows or the opacified layer. METALIX can achieve a wide range of design possibilities.
IRISWITCH™
IRISWITCH™ inks are printed on the opacified topcoat of substrate, forming interactive features that shift between visibility and obscurity. They appear as a pearlescent sheen when viewed from different angles. IRISWITCH can be designed as a stripe pattern, patch or image overlay.
Spot Colour
Spot Colour creates vibrant images using coloured inks, allowing multiple design effects to be applied across the banknote.
Tactility
SPARTAN banknotes are produced using specialised inks and gravure printing techniques that create texture, tactility and a paper-like feel which aids public acceptance.
Tactility can be added at strategic areas throughout the surface of the banknote to support accessibility for the visually impaired.
To the left is an example of areas where tactility is most likely to be used, but these are not the only areas that can be printed in this way. Tactility can be added to one or both sides of SPARTAN banknotes.
Level 2 Security Features
These are hidden or covert security features that require a device for inspection. They can be used by retailers and the public.
The recently developed VIVID™ family of security features enable a Level 2 security feature to be incorporated into the design of a SPARTAN banknote without altering its aesthetics.
VIVID™
VIVID™ is a range of coloured visible inks that fluoresce in a contrasting colour when illuminated under UV light. The inks are applied during the production of the GUARDIAN substrate.
VIVID™ IR
VIVID™ IR combines multiple Level 2 authentication capabilities in a single security ink. Both IR and UV security inks are embedded into a spot ink to provide a distinctive means of authentication. VIVID IR produces a dark visible image under an IR camera and fluoresces brightly under a UV light source.
VIVID™ SWITCH
VIVID™ SWITCH is a dual Level 1 and 2 security feature. It utilises IRISWITCH™ to change between gold and silver when viewed at different angles under normal light. When examined using a UV light, however, the feature fluoresces a brilliant white.
Level 3a Security Features
MAGREAD™ is a Level 3 security feature. It has magnetic and optical elements that are both machine readable and visually identifiable. A magnetically readable ink is applied in a straight thread format, or a non-linear, complex pattern or patch. With MAGREAD, commercial and central banks can rapidly authenticate and count large volumes of banknotes.
MAGREAD™
A magnetic and optical element available that can be applied during the single production process that creates a SPARTAN banknote.
The visual element can be used to create a thread appearance, both solid or with micro letters, or a nonlinear and multidirectional pattern or image, that are visible in both transmission and reflection.
The MAGread thread, pattern or image can be printed in a strategic position that enables machine recognition at high speeds.