Röchling Industrial, Polysecure partner on use of SmartMarker technology

Polysecure GmbH and plastics processor Röchling Industrial have entered into an exclusive partnership agreement under which Röchling will make use of an innovative marker technology in plastic products developed by Polysecure.

Polysecure GmbH has been developing innovative marker materials and detection technologies at its site in Freiburg, Germany, since 2009 and is one of the leading companies in marker technology. Röchling will use the technology, which it calls SmartMarker, to provide its plastic products with an identifier, allowing customers to authenticate and identify their components and providing enhanced options for counterfeit protection, the development of digital material passports and sorting for recycling purposes.

"We give our plastic products a distinctive identifier made of tiny marker particles. The markers are invisible and do not affect the technical properties of the material. Every component complies with our high standard technical requirements,” explained Axel Höfter, general manager Corporate R&D at Röchling Industrial.

Used for authentication purposes, SmartMarker can serve to prove which company manufactured a component. Scanning the marker in the component with the pocket detector developed by Polysecure offers proof of origin, said Höfter, and each marker is associated with a particular customer.

The marker can also be used to to identify certain components. In that case, a reference surface on the component is determined. "This reference surface contains a random, and thus individual, irreproducible particle pattern. The pattern gives the component an unmistakable particle fingerprint," said Jochen Moesslein, managing director of Polysecure GmbH. Such authentication and identification applications can also help prevent counterfeits and unjustified complaints from occurring.

Moreover, the particle fingerprint containing product and quality-relevant information can also be digitised, stored in a database and used to create a digital product passport. Such information can include material properties, customer information and batch numbers, said Höfter.