FRP Credit Card

Credit cards and their associated debit/i.d./membership cards of the same form factor are a standard feature of modern life. Sadly, I've found that many of my most used cards lack durability. My work I.d. only has half of my face on it, the rest falling victim to endless swiping through doors. My debit card recently split in half lengthwise and I've broken many over the years.

Standard cards are simple PVC, and "composite" <link> cards do exist, however, this is just a PVC/polyester mix. I also recently encountered some posh card from Chase that was actually heavy. I was surprisingly impressed. So let's go a little further.

So, we can make a credit card out of exotic fiber reinforced polymers. There is plenty of variety available, starting with the polymer, epoxy or polyester are the most common. Polyester makes the most sense as it's more amenable to large-scale construction and doesn't contain bisphenols that can cause reactions in isolated cases*. For the fiber, there is a choice of carbon, glass and kevlar. All of these can be mixed and matched in various fetching weaves <link> not unlike fabrics like tweed**.

The resulting card would be much tougher than conventional plastics, rendering a premium product for premium customers who have premium door locks to jimmy***. Other benefits of carbon for example, is that it's conductive and might be used to fashion RFID antennas or even shield one side of the card for security purposes.

There, a credit card that won't snap when you stand on it, because it's in the back pocket of your jeans that you're taking off after a long day's refreshment.

*there will be isolated cases, difficult to win isolated law suits, so stick with the more boring polyester. ** there is, of course, no reason why tweed couldn't be used instead of all this silly aerospace nonsense. A pleasing Harris tweed, or rattan weave card might be right on brand for Rentisham's, for example. *** or much larger areas of premium automotive glass to scrape high-grade alpine ice off.