Money printing paper

A special high-grade paper with high technical and consumer properties is used for the production of money. It is the basis of the banknote and largely determines the quality and especially the durability of money. Money printing paper is produced at the Leningrad and Krasnokamsk Goznak factories on modern equipment and using progressive technology.

Paper for printing money – Properties

Важнейшим требованием к денежной бумаге является износоустойчивость.

It is generally accepted that the main indicator that characterizes the durability, resistance to breakage and fracture, which are standardized technical specifications.

Paper money in circulation is repeatedly bent (folded) and unbent. Therefore, when tested on a special device, a folding machine, the paper samples must withstand (not break) several thousand double kinks (ordinary sheets of printed paper can withstand up to twenty double kinks).

High tensile strength must also be high. It is determined on a dynamometer and is expressed by the calculated length in meters of a strip of paper, which is torn by its own weight.

The tear length of money paper is counted in thousands of meters (much more than conventional papers). In addition to these important indicators of the durability of paper is also characterized by the resistance to edge tearing. This indicator is usually high, but is not regulated by technical specifications.

The strength of paper is partially diminished in the printing process by the typographic and Orloff methods, especially with poorly adjusted pressure (pressure).

To ensure the high quality and durability of the printed image, money paper has the necessary degree of whiteness, opacity, smoothness, lightfastness. It should not change its color (whiteness) and reduce its mechanical strength under the influence of artificial light and sunlight.

The resistance to “aging” is greatest with papers made from linen and cotton fibers. The color layer on the paper must be well anchored and be sufficiently resistant to abrasion.

Protecting money from counterfeiting

Watermarks are especially important for money paper, as they are an important protection against counterfeiting. In addition, a watermark, especially a local one in the form of a portrait or other drawing, enhances the artistic level of money.

The watermark is formed when the paper is cast due to different thicknesses of the fiber layer. The creation of distinct and beautiful watermarks is a challenge in its own right in the papermaking process.

The sign can be general, i.e. with a continuously repeating pattern, or local – an image located on a sheet of paper in a specific place. It is usually placed on the coupon, as well as on another fixed place of the banknote.

To protect against counterfeiting money paper is sometimes added thin colored fibers, introduced metallized filament and other special materials.

Применяются волокна, видимые только в определенном спектре лучей.

Money printing paper used in Russia, in terms of its mechanical and printing properties, durability and the merits of the watermark is a good basis for paper money and the quality corresponds to the papers of advanced countries.

The technical achievement was the creation and introduction of sorting and counting machines.

They replaced the manual work of sorters with the operation of rejecting (removing) from the bundle of banknotes defective copies, previously marked during the control of semi-finished products in the sheets. Simultaneously with mechanical rejection, the machine completes (counts) valid items in blocks of 100.

These blocks are encrusted, formed into bundles of 1,000 copies, and then shrink-wrapped. There are several printing methods commonly used to print paper money: typographic, offset, orlovski, and metallographic.

High (typographic) and offset methods used in Goznak are in principle the same as those used in general printing. The use of these types of printing in monetary production differs only in the complexity of the printed pattern.

Eagle and metallographic seals are the main ones for money making.