What are Composite ID Cards?
Most standard ID cards are made from PVC plastic, an inexpensive and widely available material. Composite PET plastic cards are also available, and they are constructed of 60% PVC plastic and 40% PET plastic. You should consider using composite PVC-PET cards if your ID cards:
- will be worn outside in the elements
- are frequently swiped through a magstripe reader
- are printed with a laminating printer
Composite cards combine approximately 60% PVC with 40% PET. PET plastic is a durable material with greater flex and impact strength. This combination of the two plastics also makes the cards considerably more durable.
PET cards offer a longer card life than PVC cards which ultimately results in fewer card replacements over time.
In addition, these cards are less susceptible to cracking or tearing from bending and handling, making them ideal for applications that use a reverse transfer (also referred to as "retransfer") printer or laminating printer. Composite cards can tolerate the higher temperature without causing distortion.
Composite cards are available with the same access control technologies as PVC and can be customized with high-quality full-color graphics, security, and anti-counterfeiting features.
Most of the door entry cards we stock are available in both the standard PVC and composite PVC-PET format, so no matter what type of card printer you have, you can be assured we have the right card type to accommodate your business needs.