Magnetic Stripe Testing
Overview
A magnetic stripe (magstripe) is a band of magnetically modifiable iron-based material. The magstripe is placed on the back of plastic cards and is used to store and communicate data. Magnetic stripe cards are commonly used for credit/debit cards, loyalty/gift cards and identity cards. For financial cards, some international markets are yet to fully adopt EMV or smart cards and use of the Magnetic stripe is often used as a fall-back for worldwide interoperability.The process of Magstripe Encoding modifies the magnetic particles into a bar arrangement which can be read as binary data. When reading the card, the magnetic stripe moves through a magnetic field of the read/write head, generating electric pulses. The spacing of pulses determine whether a '0' or '1' is read.
Testing
Card Testing International checks the quality of your magstripe cards to ensure they can be read reliably. It only takes 1/3mm misplacement of the encoded track location to create problems for the reader.CTI evaluates the placement and quality of the magstripe band against internationally recognised standards, how well a card magstripe \ can be encoded and read based on the various physical characteristics of the magstripe and the card. CTI also can asses an encoding device's ability to accurately encode magstripe cards.
![Magnetic Stripe](/images/articles/technology/3-track-magstripe.jpg)
Standards for Magnetic Stripe Cards
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ISO/IEC 7811-6- Physical Characteristics
- Surface Profile & Roughness
- Magnetic Stripe Roughness
- Magnetic Stripe Positioning
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Cards must also comply with ISO/IEC 7810 ID Cards - Physical Characteristics
- General Compliance e.g. height, width, thickness etc.
- Durability e.g. Peel Strength, Resistance to Heat/Chemicals etc.
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Personalisation covered by:
- ISO/IEC 7811-1 Embossing
- ISO/IEC 7811-6 HiCo magstripe encoding
Common Magnetic Stripe Issues
![Magnetic Stripe Positioning](/images/articles/technology/ms-position_1.jpg)
Magstripe Stripe Positioning Problem
- Magstripe positioned too low on card
- Top of Track 1 data chopped off
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Card Stock Problem affecting Personalisation
- Two chances for CTI to catch this problem
![Overlay Bond Strength](/images/articles/technology/delamination.jpg)
Weak Overlay bond strength
- Devalues brand image
- Can cause chip & magstripe read failure as the card may not align properly with the chip contacts or read head
- Can cause jamming problems in automated card transport mechanisms
![Encoded Track Location Problem](/images/articles/technology/encoded-track-location.jpg)
Magstripe Personalisation - Encoded Track Location Problem
- Track Location too low - Red dotted line shows correct position of top of Track 1
- 3/5 Readers CTI tried showed Read Failure
- One Reader tried to read Track 2 and Track 3
- Magstripe Positioning problem also evident