Using Portable Handheld Raman Device for Determining Polymer Content in Security Documents

Polycarbonate (PC), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), and other types of plastic are commonly used for security documents such as identity cards, driver’s licenses, or passport data pages. Security documents contain many security features and when counterfeited, different features may be attacked and prone to imitation. There are methods for identifying inks, printing methods, and security features but there are very few published methods for identifying the polymeric substrate. In this research, a quick and non-destructive method for identifying the polymer content in plastic security documents is suggested in order to differentiate between them. A portable handheld Raman device was applied on various plastic cards. The Raman instrument was originally developed for in-field analysis of drugs or mineral sampling. The findings showed that the results of the portable handheld Raman device correctly identified the polymer content in most plastic cards. This method is limited by dark and metallic colors due to their high fluorescence in the near-infrared (NIR). Highlights A quick and non-destructive method for identifying the polymer content in plastic security documents is suggested. A portable handheld Raman device is used successfully for identification of the polymer content of various plastic cards. The method presented can easily and simply be applied as a field test for identifying counterfeit security documents from plastic substrate.