A New Dimension in Ink Security from Gleitsmann

Gleitsmann Security Inks (GIS) used the Currency Conference to launch glairINK , a new suite of infrared (IR) inks for intaglio and offset printing that, the company says, sets a new standard in future machine-readable security features for banknotes.

Two years ago, GSI introduced mouveINK , which combines traditional UV colours/inks with a phosphorescent afterglow effect – the world’s first ‘traffic light’ for high security printing. According to the company, however, while mouveINK clearly offers banknote designers and central banks a new UV-light responsive feature, most banknotes today also include standard, well established and much talked-about, yet simple features detectable in the infrared (IR) spectrum.

Many issuers rely on a combination of IR-absorbing and IR-transparent inks as a Level 2 security feature which can be easily read by traditional banknote inspection modules in sorters, ATMs and other devices. But counterfeiters have succeeded in copying or imitating such features by using carbon black and other readily available chemical substances.