EP2889702B1 - Ankerplatte für die Bewegungshemmung einer Armbanduhr, und angepasstes Herstellungsverfahren - Google Patents

Ankerplatte für die Bewegungshemmung einer Armbanduhr, und angepasstes Herstellungsverfahren Download PDF

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Publication number
EP2889702B1
EP2889702B1 EP14196655.6A EP14196655A EP2889702B1 EP 2889702 B1 EP2889702 B1 EP 2889702B1 EP 14196655 A EP14196655 A EP 14196655A EP 2889702 B1 EP2889702 B1 EP 2889702B1
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EP
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Prior art keywords
diamond
pallet
anchor
monocrystalline
doping
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EP14196655.6A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP2889702A3 (de
EP2889702A2 (de
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Serguei Mikhaïlov
Sergey Goloviatinski
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TGM Developpement SA
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TGM Developpement SA
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    • G—PHYSICS
    • G04—HOROLOGY
    • G04B—MECHANICALLY-DRIVEN CLOCKS OR WATCHES; MECHANICAL PARTS OF CLOCKS OR WATCHES IN GENERAL; TIME PIECES USING THE POSITION OF THE SUN, MOON OR STARS
    • G04B15/00—Escapements
    • G04B15/14—Component parts or constructional details, e.g. construction of the lever or the escape wheel

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to an escapement pallet, in particular an escapement pallet made of diamond.
  • the present invention also relates to a method of manufacturing such a pallet.
  • Moving parts such as axles, wheels, pinions, escapement anchor, escapement wheel, balance wheel, springs and balance spring are frequently made of steel, or elinvar steel for the balance spring.
  • the plate and bridges are generally made of brass or steel. Other materials are used more marginally, such as ruby for bearings or pallets, or ceramic for some bearings.
  • EP732635A1 describes a micro-mechanical part, for example an anchor for a clock movement, cut from a silicon wafer by etching using a plasma gas around a shaped mask previously provided on the face of the wafer.
  • Silicon has the advantage of being easy to machine, in a reproducible manner, with technologies that are perfectly mastered for the manufacture of integrated circuits or MEMS in particular.
  • it has certain disadvantages, in particular an insufficient tribological surface condition and a relatively high coefficient of friction.
  • CH669109A1 (The Swatch Group R&D Ltd) suggests improving this surface condition by depositing a layer of DLC ("Diamond Like Carbon") carbon on the silicon.
  • DLC Diamond Like Carbon
  • US2002/114225 (Damasko) describes in particular an escapement anchor made of steel coated with a DLC (“Diamond Like Carbon”) layer.
  • US2012/0263909 (Diamaze Microtechnology SA et al. ) describes another example of a mechanical part coated with diamond or a DLC layer.
  • DLC coatings have some of the properties of natural diamond, although their crystal structure is very different. Typically, these coatings are produced using plasma carbon deposition, filtered arcs, ion beams, sputtering, etc. These rapid, high-energy processes do not allow the carbon atoms to arrange themselves in the typical diamond sp3 cubic arrangement; the arrangement of the atoms is generally amorphous, with a tangle of differently oriented crystal microstructures.
  • DLC coating deposition processes generate a material comprising significant proportions, greater than 10%, of hydrogen, graphitic carbon or other components.
  • a steel or silicon part coated with a DLC layer therefore has tribological surface conditions that are certainly improved, but still far from perfect.
  • the adhesion of the DLC coating to the substrate is also a weak point.
  • the additional step required for the deposition of this DLC layer complicates manufacturing.
  • the anchors in the escapement of mechanical movements are particularly subject to severe constraints. It is first of all desirable to reduce their mass and their moment of inertia as much as possible in order to limit the energy required for the high frequency oscillation of these moving parts, and therefore to increase the power reserve of the watch.
  • the anchor in particular the anchor pallet, is however subjected to repeated shocks at each alternation, or during shocks of the watch, and must therefore have sufficient solidity.
  • a rigid anchor is generally desired which does not deform at each alternation, which also limits the minimum thickness of the part.
  • the anchor and in particular the pallets mounted on the anchor must be able to both receive an impulse from the escape wheel at each alternation, and then block this same escape wheel.
  • a coefficient of friction as low as possible between the pallet impulse plane and the teeth of the escape wheel makes it possible to increase the energy efficiency of the escapement and therefore increase the rate of the watch.
  • the tribological condition of the pallet impulse plane must therefore be as good as possible.
  • the pallets must also be hard enough to absorb the shocks transmitted by the anchor wheel without deformation.
  • this anchor and/or in any case the pallets are made of diamond; micromechanical parts made of diamond are certainly already known.
  • WO2004/029733A2 (Fore Eagle Co Ltd) describes watch components made at least partially from this material. This document lists various advantages of diamond, including its hardness, a low coefficient of friction, good shock resistance, high mechanical strength, a modulus high elasticity, low coefficient of thermal expansion, transparency and scratch resistance.
  • EP2407831A1 (Rolex SA) describes a hairspring for a watch oscillator that can be made of a low-density material such as silicon, diamond or quartz.
  • the hairspring can be made by a chemical etching process using plasma ("DRIE, Deep Reactive Ion Etching").
  • CH701155B1 (Complitime SA) describes a balance wheel for a timepiece comprising a plate which may be made of diamond, quartz, silicon or corundum.
  • WO2005/017631 (Fore Eagle Co Ltd) describes another balance wheel made of diamond and obtained by chemical etching using a plasma.
  • EP2107434A1 describes a mechanical part, in particular an anchor wheel for watchmaking, made of silicon or diamond.
  • EP2233989 (Ulysse Nardin Le Locle SA) describes a diamond spiral spring obtained by deep engraving.
  • CH701369 describes a diamond barrel spring.
  • DE102008029429 relates to watch parts, for example parts of the oscillating organ, made of diamond.
  • this document recommends a non-metallic material, preferably polycrystalline silicon.
  • the type of diamond used for the above parts is usually not specified in these documents. In practice, it is always polycrystalline synthetic diamond whose cost is 10 to 50% lower than that of natural diamond, and which can be produced in shapes suitable for the intended use.
  • WO99/22049 describes various methods of pulse plane polishing for a polycrystalline diamond blade, such polishing methods being also described in EP2511229 And WO01/75197 .
  • FROM 100 62 933 concerns the manufacture of an anchor and its associated anchor wheel, with materials having different hardnesses, in particular a rough diamond anchor and a carbon steel wheel.
  • micromechanical components made from materials offering a better compromise between the desired properties of hardness, mechanical resistance, lightness, low thermal expansion, stability of the modulus of elasticity, and ease of high-precision machining.
  • the term "pallet" means the part at the interface between the regulating organ and the escapement, on the regulating organ side, which receives from the escapement the energy intended to oscillate the regulating organ and/or which makes it possible to block the escapement at each alternation.
  • the pallet may be embedded in an arm of the anchor, for example a Swiss anchor. Pallets often have a parallelepiped shape, with an inclined plane on the escapement wheel side and intended to receive the impulse from the escapement wheel; other pallet shapes can however be imagined, including pallets with a curved face on the escapement wheel side.
  • the pallet may also be an integral part of the anchor or another part of the escapement, which in this case may be made monolithically from single-crystal diamond.
  • the pallet may be rigid or even flexible.
  • a palette is said to be "made entirely of diamond” if it is made of a single diamond crystal, without a substrate in another material, without a surface coating and generally without assembly.
  • Impurities in small quantities for example less than 3%, may at most be present, particularly in the case of natural diamonds, but also synthetic diamonds. Impurities may for example be constituted by doping.
  • a diamond is considered monocrystalline if it consists of a single crystal, or essentially a single crystal except for a limited number of distinct crystals, often smaller than the main crystal, which are unwanted but result for example from the manufacturing process or from imperfect crystallization around impurities or edges.
  • the invention is based in particular on the observation that monocrystalline diamond has many advantages over the more widespread polycrystalline diamond, and even more so over DLC coatings.
  • monocrystalline diamonds have the advantage over polycrystalline diamonds of being extremely strong; in fact, no crack initiation exists between the different grains. This strength makes it possible to produce thinner and therefore lighter parts with the same strength.
  • parts from monocrystalline diamond such as, without limitation, anchor wheels or anchors with a thickness of less than 120 microns, preferably less than 100 microns, for example between 20 and 60 microns.
  • the thickness is advantageously between 100 and 400 microns, for example 320 microns, or between 100 and 160 microns, preferably between 100 and 120 microns.
  • Such thicknesses would be practically impossible to achieve with parts made of steel, silicon or polycrystalline diamond, because these parts would be too fragile and very difficult to assemble without breaking them.
  • monocrystalline diamonds generally have a smoother surface condition than polycrystalline diamonds or DLC coatings, whose grain structure does not allow for an optimal tribological surface.
  • Polycrystalline diamonds known in the prior art for the manufacture of mechanical parts are extremely hard, harder than the usual monocrystalline natural diamonds.
  • high hardness is not always necessary or even advantageous for a watch component. This hardness results in a high polishing cost, and faster wear of softer parts in contact.
  • the pulse plane parallel to the ⁇ 001 ⁇ or preferably ⁇ 011 ⁇ crystal plane allows to obtain a better tribological state after polishing than a crystal plane parallel to the ⁇ 111 ⁇ plane or oblique to these planes.
  • the pallet can be made by cutting from a flat plate.
  • Plate cutting can be done by laser from a non-flat diamond.
  • the laser can be tilted during cutting.
  • the direction of the laser can be changed by means of a mirror during cutting.
  • Cutting can be done from both ends of the workpiece.
  • Cutting flat parts from a plate can be done from a laser oriented perpendicular to the plate.
  • the cutting path can be defined by means of laser path control software.
  • the path can be optimized to minimize the risk of cracking in any direction other than the cutting direction.
  • the palette can be made of natural or synthetic monocrystalline diamond.
  • Natural monocrystalline diamonds of a size suitable for the manufacture of mechanical parts have a reputation for being very expensive, so that there was a very strong prejudice against their use in the manufacture of such parts.
  • many natural monocrystalline diamonds are discovered each year with shapes that do not allow them to be cut in order to use them in jewelry for example.
  • Such diamonds are most often split to reduce them to smaller usable diamonds, or reduced to diamond powder for industrial applications. The value of such pieces is therefore significantly lower than that of diamonds usually used in watches and jewelry.
  • Synthetic diamonds are in the vast majority of cases polycrystalline; it is generally considered difficult to produce single-crystal synthetic diamonds, especially large diamonds. However, it has been observed more recently that technological developments make it possible to produce single-crystal synthetic diamonds of more than 1 carat at relatively low costs.
  • synthetic single-crystal diamonds can be obtained by growing carbon by CVD growth around a single-crystal diamond seed.
  • the single-crystal diamond seed can be reused to successively grow several single-crystal synthetic diamonds. It is important that the seed is made of single-crystal diamond so that the structure that is deposited is itself single-crystal.
  • the carbon can be obtained from methane in a CVD reactor.
  • Synthetic monocrystalline diamond can also be obtained by compressing carbon at high pressure and high temperature. However, this solution results in higher costs, especially for the manufacture of large monocrystalline diamonds.
  • Polycrystalline diamonds are most often transparent or gray; due to the multiple interfaces between different crystal grains with different orientations, they produce little or no reflections, and virtually no iridescence effects.
  • single crystal diamonds including natural single crystal diamonds, come in a wide variety of color, including transparent, black, blue, yellow, red, etc.
  • the play of light which is reflected on different faces oriented in various ways produces highly appreciated iridescence effects.
  • Synthetic monocrystalline diamond can be doped. Natural monocrystalline diamond can be doped.
  • Doped monocrystalline diamond is obtained by deliberately introducing a doping element into the diamond, either during the growth of a synthetic diamond or into an already formed synthetic or natural diamond.
  • the doping operation thus makes it possible to produce a diamond different from diamonds found in nature, and different from undoped synthetic monocrystalline diamonds.
  • the difference comes from the type of impurities, their distribution and/or their concentration.
  • the doping is chosen so as to modify the mechanical and tribological properties of the diamond piece.
  • Doping of synthetic monocrystalline diamond can be achieved during its manufacture by adding impurities into the CVD reactor gas. This doping can be done with virtually no additional cost when growing a synthetic monocrystalline diamond.
  • Doping of synthetic or natural monocrystalline diamond can also be achieved by ion implantation using a high-energy beam.
  • Doping can be homogeneous throughout the volume of the part.
  • Doping may be limited to the surface, or different at surface and depth. Doping may be chosen to control hardness and/or color and/or elasticity and/or sensitivity of Young's modulus to temperature. Different single crystal diamond pieces of the same movement may be doped differently.
  • Different mechanical parts of the same movement can be made of different varieties of monocrystalline diamond.
  • different mechanical parts of the same movement can be made of different colors of monocrystalline diamond.
  • the color of the monocrystalline diamond which is due to impurities, influences its hardness.
  • transparent monocrystalline diamond is less hard than black monocrystalline diamond doped with boron ions.
  • the type or color of monocrystalline diamond chosen for different parts of the same movement is therefore determined according to the desired hardness, or according to other mechanical properties dependent on this color.
  • the watch movement comprises an anchor pallet in a hard monocrystalline diamond, and an anchor wheel in a less hard monocrystalline diamond.
  • the anchor or pallets may for example be made of black monocrystalline diamond doped with boron while the anchor wheel may be made of transparent or yellow monocrystalline diamond.
  • the pulse plane of the pallet is obtained by polishing the side surfaces of the pallet after it is cut from a single crystal diamond plate. Polishing can be done mechanically, for example with a grinding wheel in a direction parallel to the pulse direction.
  • At least part of these lateral mechanical surfaces of the pallet can be polished or corrected, for example with a laser beam or an ion beam.
  • at least a portion of these surfaces is corrected so as to have a better tribological state than before the correction.
  • At least one portion can be corrected so that this portion is substantially perpendicular to the lower and upper faces of the part.
  • the pallet can be held by vacuum during polishing. It can thus be positioned very precisely in height, and inaccuracies in the thickness of the part which result from an uncontrolled thickness of glue in the polishing processes of glued parts used in the prior art are avoided.
  • the palette can be mounted in the anchor before polishing, the anchor then being used to hold the palette during polishing.
  • At least one of the surfaces of the pallet may be heat-treated, for example by exposing it to a temperature between 600° and 750°C, preferably between 650 and 680°C, in order to burn off the carbon in the form of graphite produced by the cutting of the diamond and which may remain on the surface.
  • This heat treatment also makes it possible to polish the diamond, by burning the tips on the surface, without however degrading the surface condition by a high-temperature attack.
  • At least one of the surfaces can be ground using a laser.
  • the condition of at least one surface of the diamond is advantageously treated by both heat treatment, mechanical polishing and laser grinding.
  • the part can be polished until the surface is flush with previously cut polishing marks.
  • the part can be polished ultrasonically. It can be cleaned with gasoline.
  • FIGS. 1 to 3 schematically illustrate a method of manufacturing a pallet according to the invention, here integrated into an escapement anchor. A similar method can be implemented to manufacture a discrete pallet separate from the anchor.
  • FIG. 1A illustrates an uncut monocrystalline diamond 1 used to manufacture one or more parts according to the invention.
  • the monocrystalline diamond may be a natural diamond or a synthetic diamond, advantageously weighing more than 1 carat, preferably more than 3 carats.
  • a natural diamond it may be a diamond with a shape or other properties that make it unsuitable for valuation for use in jewelry.
  • Synthetic monocrystalline diamond can be produced, for example, by using a filtered arc to deposit carbon on a monocrystalline diamond seed, without the addition of hydrogen or other materials. Another possibility is to perform a CVD deposition of carbon produced from a hydrocarbon such as methane on a monocrystalline diamond seed. The seed can be reused after cutting plates from the mass deposited above the seed.
  • a third, less advantageous possibility is to produce a synthetic monocrystalline diamond by subjecting a carbon source to high temperature and high pressure simultaneously. Other processes could be used.
  • the monocrystalline diamond thus formed can be doped.
  • the doping product can be introduced during the formation of the synthetic diamond, for example by adding traces of doping product in the filtered arc respectively in the CVD reactor.
  • the doping product is added after the formation of the synthetic diamond, for example by means of a high-energy ion beam.
  • the doping can be carried out homogeneously throughout the mass of the diamond, and/or only on the surface.
  • a first doping can be carried out in the mass and a different doping, for example with another doping product and/or with another concentration, can be carried out on the surface.
  • Doping can be selected to modify the hardness of the parts produced from this diamond; depending on the doping product, it is possible to increase or decrease this hardness. For example, the inclusion of nitrogen as a doping product can reduce the hardness of a part, while the inclusion of boron ions can increase it.
  • the hardness of the pallet is increased by doping, for example by including boron ions, while a single-crystal diamond anchor wheel intended to cooperate with this pallet in the escapement is undoped, or doped so as to reduce its hardness, for example with nitrogen, in order to obtain a hardness lower than that of the pallet. It is indeed advantageous to have very hard pallets, to reduce their wear and the coefficient of friction on the impulse plane, and a less hard escape wheel to absorb the shock of the anchor at each oscillation.
  • the anchor wheel is doped with a relatively high concentration of nitrogen, while the pallet is doped with a lower concentration of nitrogen. The inclusion of nitrogen during the manufacture of synthetic monocrystalline diamond by CVD growth makes it possible to increase the manufacturing speed, and therefore reduce the cost, while obtaining pallets that remain harder than conventional ruby pallets.
  • Doping can also be selected to control the color of the diamond. Doping can be selected to control the Young's modulus of the diamond. Doping can be selected to reduce the sensitivity of the Young's modulus to temperature, in order to produce parts whose stiffness is as independent as possible of temperature. Doping can be selected to reduce the coefficient of expansion of the diamond, in order to produce parts whose dimensions are as independent as possible of temperature.
  • the doping product and the concentration of this product are further chosen so as not to interfere with the monocrystalline structure of the diamond, or to limit this interference as much as possible.
  • the diamond is doped with boron ions. Different diamonds used for the production of different parts in the same watch can be doped differently depending on the desired properties.
  • Boron doping carried out during the organic growth of synthetic diamond has the advantage of producing a non-black diamond. radioactive, unlike doping processes by introduction of high-energy ions.
  • the single crystal diamond 1 is then cut as shown in the Figure 1B , for example by means of a diamond saw, or split using a hammer and blade, an electric arc, an ion beam, or preferably cut using a laser so as to obtain a flat surface.
  • the laser is advantageously a pulsed laser, for example a laser pulsed at a frequency of 5 to 40 GHz.
  • the diamond is sliced from a first side by means of a first laser beam 20.
  • the laser beam is pivoted by means of a movable mirror, so as to emit in a cone with an opening angle of less than 5°.
  • the diamond is then attacked from the other side by means of another laser beam 21 pivoted in a cone ( Figure 4B ).
  • This cone machining makes it possible to widen the ablation zone and to avoid poor surface conditions and the destruction of the crystalline structure that could occur if the ablation were carried out in a narrow channel, causing an excessive temperature rise.
  • the process is comparable, all things considered, to that of a lumberjack cutting a log using two diagonal notches from each side of the log.
  • the convex surface thus produced by this cutting is then ground or flattened, as illustrated in the Figure 4C , by means of a laser beam oriented parallel to the surface of the plate to be produced.
  • the pulse frequency of this laser can be for example between 10 and 100 KHz, in order to obtain a precise cut without the problems of modifications of the crystal structure caused by the high energy of the faster pulsed lasers.
  • the cutting plane is determined in order to obtain an active surface of the part oriented according to the ⁇ 111 ⁇ crystal plane which is generally the hardest.
  • the cutting plane is preferably distinct from the ⁇ 111 ⁇ plane and chosen so as to allow the cutting of pallets whose impulse surface, obtained in the edge of the cut plates, is parallel to the ⁇ 111 ⁇ crystal orientation plane.
  • the cutting plane is determined in order to obtain an active surface of the part oriented substantially according to the crystalline plane ⁇ 001 ⁇ or preferably according to the plane ⁇ 011 ⁇ which is particularly hard; these planes are in fact less sensitive to deviations from the ideal surface.
  • the cutting plane is preferably chosen so as to allow the cutting of pallets whose impulse surface, obtained in the edge of the cut plates, is substantially parallel to the crystalline orientation plane ⁇ 001 ⁇ or preferably ⁇ 011 ⁇ . Substantially parallel means here that the deviation after polishing is at most +-5°.
  • the rough face 10 obtained at the end of this cutting is then rectified and/or polished so as to obtain a polished flat face 11 as illustrated in the Figure 1C .
  • the rectification of face 11 can be carried out, as indicated, by means of a laser, for example a pulsed laser between 10 and 100KHz.
  • Polishing of face 11 may be carried out on a rotating wheel covered with synthetic diamond powder, for example polycrystalline diamond powder.
  • the roughness of face 11 can also be reduced by means of a high-energy ion beam parallel to the surface.
  • the diamond is then cut with a new cut parallel to the first cut, so as to obtain a thin plate 2 as illustrated in the Figure 1D .
  • This delicate cutting is advantageously carried out by laser to avoid shocks which could break the plate.
  • this cutting can be carried out according to the process illustrated on the Figures 4a to 4c , that is, by means of one or two laser beams deflected by a mirror to produce a conical ablation zone.
  • this process allows extremely thin plates to be cut from a single-crystal diamond, for example plates with a thickness of less than 400 microns, for example plates with a thickness of between 100 and 400 microns, for example 320 microns, or between 100 and 160 microns, ideally between 100 and 120 microns, in the case of plates intended for machining pallets, and plates with a thickness of between 20 and 120 microns, for example between 40 and 80 microns, for example 60 microns, in the case of manufacturing anchor wheels or anchors.
  • This feature makes it possible to manufacture extremely light parts and therefore reduce the energy required to move them.
  • the lower face 12 of the plate 2 is relatively rough. For many applications, particularly in watchmaking, this imperfectly polished appearance is entirely satisfactory since this face is not visible. However, it is possible to also polish this face 12 by producing a slightly thicker part, for example by mechanical polishing on a grinding wheel and/or laser. In one embodiment, the part is held without glue during its polishing, preferably by vacuum. It is thus possible to very precisely control the thickness of the part after polishing, without this thickness depending on the thickness of the glue.
  • the produced plate 2 can be visually inspected to eliminate plates that have too many impurities or a non-monocrystalline structure. In one embodiment, this inspection is carried out by illuminating the plate with polarized light to highlight the imperfections. The inspection can be manual or carried out using a camera and image analysis software.
  • the pallet 3 (or an anchor incorporating one or more pallets) is cut out of the surface of the plate 2.
  • This cutting is for example obtained by means of a laser beam perpendicular to one of the surfaces 11, 12 or to the median plane of the plate 2.
  • this cutting can be carried out according to the method illustrated in the Figures 4a to 4c , that is, by means of one or two laser beams deflected by a mirror to produce a conical ablation zone.
  • FIG 5 illustrates an example of a possible trajectory of the laser beam 6 when machining a pallet in a plate 11.
  • the laser beam may have a relatively large dimension, for example a maximum diameter of the order of 20 microns.
  • the shape of this beam 6 is generally non-circular, for example elliptical.
  • the cutting path is therefore advantageously determined by software arranged to determine a path of the light beam which takes into account the dimension, shape and orientation of this beam relative to the part to be cut, so as to obtain a part after release whose dimensions correspond to the desired dimensions.
  • the trajectory is preferably started at a distance from the part to be produced, on a portion 32 which does not belong to the part produced. This avoids deformations due to the initial drilling.
  • the trajectory is also preferably optimized, taking into account the crystalline orientation of the diamond, so that any cracks which propagate from the ablation point have a maximum chance of following the edge of the part, or of moving away from this part. For example, on the figure 5 , the maximum risk of cracks occurs from the initial drilling point 32; the position of this point is therefore preferably chosen so that the most probable crack direction follows exactly the line followed by the beam.
  • the part to be cut is oriented on the diamond plate 11 so that the active surface of the part is in the ⁇ 111 ⁇ crystal plane.
  • the active surface 31 is constituted by the impulse surface (planar or non-planar) intended to be placed in contact with the escape wheel. The pallet is therefore cut from the plate 11 so that this surface 31 is precisely in the ⁇ 111 ⁇ plane.
  • Elements 33 on the figure 5 are cutting witnesses used during the subsequent polishing step in order to define the ideal polishing depth. The polishing will therefore be carried out precisely until these marks disappear completely.
  • the method of cutting the part 3 from a plate 2 using a laser has the disadvantage of producing lateral flanks 13 which are not perpendicular to the faces 11, 12, as shown in an exaggerated manner in the Figure 3A . Since diamond is more or less transparent, the cut is actually obtained by attacking the plasma produced by the interaction between laser light and air. This results in non-perpendicular and not very smooth sides. This surface quality is problematic in particular for a pallet 3 whose impulse surface, intended to come into contact with the anchor wheel, is formed by a portion of this slice.
  • an optional operation of grinding the flanks 13, or at least a portion of these flanks can be carried out by means of a grinding wheel in order to obtain flanks 14 which are smoother and perpendicular to the surfaces 11, 12, as illustrated in the Figure 3B .
  • a grinding wheel In the case of a pallet, at least the impulse surface 31 can be ground to the depth of the mark 33 by means of a grinding wheel coated with polycrystalline diamond powder.
  • the grinding is preferably carried out by orienting the grinding wheel relative to the impulse surface so as to grind in a direction substantially parallel to the impulse direction, i.e. to the direction of movement of the escape wheel relative to the pallet.
  • Polishing of the active surface 31 by sandblasting, ion beam, ultrasound, pulsed laser (e.g. femtolaser), etc., can also be considered, in addition to or instead of polishing by grinding.
  • the surfaces of the part 3 thus obtained are preferably not coated; the monocrystalline diamond has a surface condition that is practically ideal both from an aesthetic point of view and in terms of the coefficient of friction or impact resistance, for example. However, it happens that the surfaces 11, 12, 13 or 14 are covered with traces of graphitized carbon resulting from the destruction of the diamond structure during the cutting or polishing operations.
  • the part 3 it is possible, within the framework of the invention, to subject the part 3 to a heat treatment, for example by leaving it for a few seconds or a few minutes in an oven between 600° and 750°C, preferably between 650 and 680°C, preferably in ambient air; this operation makes it possible to burn the residual graphite on the surface without affecting the carbon in the form of diamond, and thus to improve the surface condition of the part. It is also possible to use a lower temperature with a higher oxygen level, or to oxidize the non-crystalline carbon without attacking the diamond by using, for example, an oxygen or fluorine plasma.
  • This operation also allows the palette to be polished by burning the tips on the surface.
  • the produced part can also be polished by means of an ion beam ("ion etching"), for example an ion beam parallel to the surface to be polished, for example parallel to the pulse plane 31.
  • ion etching an ion beam parallel to the surface to be polished, for example parallel to the pulse plane 31.
  • this ion polishing is carried out after the polishing by heat treatment.
  • the produced piece can also be polished using ultrasound. It can be cleaned with gasoline to improve the appearance of the diamond.

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  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)
  • Compositions Of Oxide Ceramics (AREA)

Claims (7)

  1. Uhrwerk umfassend:
    mindestens eine Palette für die Hemmung von Uhrwerken, bestehend aus einer Impulsebene als Wirkfläche (31), vollständig aus einem ersten Typ von monokristallinem Diamanten hergestellt,
    dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass es umfasst:
    ein Palettenrad aus einem zweiten Typ von monokristallinem Diamanten, welcher weicher als der erste Typ von monokristallinem Diamant ist, hergestellt ist.
  2. Uhrwerk gemäss Anspruch 1, wobei das Ankerrad und die Palette eine andere Farbe aufweisen.
  3. Uhrwerk gemäss Anspruch 1, wobei die Härte der Palette durch Dotierung erhöht ist, während das Ankerrad aus monokristallinem Diamanten nicht dotiert ist, oder derart dotiert ist, um seine Härte zu verringern, um eine geringere Härte als diejenige der Palette zu erreichen.
  4. Uhrwerk gemäss Anspruch 3, wobei das Ankerrad aus einem zweiten Typ von monokristallinem Diamanten besteht, der mit Stickstoff dotiert ist.
  5. Uhrwerk gemäss Anspruch 4, wobei der Diamant der Palette höchstens 3 % Dotierungsverunreinigungen aufweist, ohne seine monokristalline Struktur zu beeinflussen.
  6. Uhrwerk gemäss Anspruch 5, wobei die Dotierung in der Masse des Teils homogen ist.
  7. Palette gemäss Anspruch 5, wobei die Dotierung an der Oberfläche anders ist als in der Tiefe des Teils.
EP14196655.6A 2013-12-05 2014-12-05 Ankerplatte für die Bewegungshemmung einer Armbanduhr, und angepasstes Herstellungsverfahren Active EP2889702B1 (de)

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