JP2000216215A - Member for carrying used for industrial robot - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make a light weight, to make easily handle and to hardly generate a deformation, a material degradation, powder splashing and so on by being constituted of fiber enforced carbon compound material or further by covering by metal over a whole surface. SOLUTION: A member for carrying is robot hand or an effector for carrying a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal glass substrate and comprises a plate body having a normal and proper form to be able to mount the semiconductor wafer or the liquid crystal glass substrate thereon. For example, a plate body which has a single handling part and more than two branched parts is given. A metallic fiber, a carbon fiber and so on can be used for an enforced fiber of fiber enforced carbon compound material which forms the member for carrying, and the carbon fiber is preferable among them. Finally, coating for heatproof such as metal, ceramic or so on is preferably provided. The member for carrying having a superior appearance can be obtained which prevents carbon powder from splashing without loosing basic material properties such as a heat conductivity, a heat expansion rate, a mechanical strength and so on.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a transfer member used for an industrial robot, and more particularly to a transfer robot hand or a transfer robot hand used for transferring a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal glass substrate into a furnace in a clean room for baking. The present invention relates to an effector (these are referred to as transfer members).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the increase in the size of a silicon wafer or a liquid crystal glass substrate, a lighter and more rigid transfer hand or effector has been desired. 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, metal members such as steel and aluminum have been used for these transfer members used for industrial robots. However, since the metal has a large specific gravity, the weight increases as the hand or the effector increases, and thus there is a disadvantage that the deflection and the vibration increase.
Recently, carbon fiber reinforced plastics (hereinafter abbreviated as CFRP) have begun to be used for the purpose of weight reduction. However, since they have poor heat resistance and thermal conductivity, the glass transition point of the resin, which is a component of CFRP, has to be reduced. Under a temperature environment exceeding the above, there is a possibility that plastic deformation or deterioration of mechanical properties may be caused, which is not suitable for use, and there is a problem that the applicable range is limited.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art. The object of the present invention is to reduce the weight and ease of handling, and to reduce the deformation and physical properties even after repeated use in a severe environment for a long time. Another object of the present invention is to provide a new conveying member which is less likely to cause powder scattering and has a wide application range.

[0004]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention firstly resides in a transport member used for an industrial robot, which is constituted by a fiber-reinforced carbon composite material. Secondly, the present invention resides in the first transport member in which the entire surface of the fiber-reinforced carbon composite material is metal-coated.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS A typical example of a transfer member used for an industrial robot according to the present invention is a robot hand or an effector for transferring a semiconductor wafer or a liquid crystal glass substrate, as described above. It is usually made of a suitably shaped plate so that the substrate can be placed thereon. As an example, as shown in FIG. 1, a plate-like body having a single hand portion and a tip portion branched into two or more can be cited.

In the present invention, the above-mentioned conveying member is formed of a fiber-reinforced carbon composite material. As the reinforcing fibers of the fiber-reinforced carbon composite material, metal fibers, ceramic fibers, carbon fibers, and the like can be used, and among them, carbon fibers are preferable. Examples of the metal fiber include stainless steel fiber, copper fiber, nickel fiber, titanium fiber, tungsten fiber, and the like, and the ceramic fiber includes silicon carbide fiber, alumina fiber,
Examples thereof include glass fibers, titanium carbide fibers, and boron nitride fibers. Examples of the carbon fibers include polyacrylonitrile-based carbon fibers (PAN-based carbon fibers), pitch-based carbon fibers, and rayon-based carbon fibers.

As the reinforcing fiber, the tensile modulus is usually 10
Those having a pressure of up to 1000 GPa, particularly 50 to 1000 GPa, are preferably used. The tensile strength is usually 0.1-6G
It is preferable to use Pa, especially 3 to 6 GPa. Pitch-based carbon fibers are particularly preferred, and have a thermal conductivity of usually 100 to 1500 W / mK, particularly 300 to 1200 W / mK.
mK pitch-based carbon fibers are particularly preferred.

[0008] The reinforcing form of the reinforcing fiber is not particularly limited, and one-way reinforcing, two-dimensional reinforcing, three-dimensional reinforcing, multidimensional reinforcing, random reinforcing and the like can be used. The fiber-reinforced carbon composite material is formed by laminating and carbonizing unidirectional prepregs and two-dimensional woven prepregs, or forming a matrix by impregnating one-way materials, two-dimensional woven fabrics, felts, mats, three-dimensional woven fabrics, etc. Obtainable. As the two-dimensional fabric, plain weave, twill weave, satin weave, mosaic weave and the like are used, but what is called a braided fabric can also be used. In particular, it is preferable to have a structure in which the fibers are oriented from the hand of the conveying member toward the distal end. Further, in order to enhance the lateral rigidity of the conveying member, the fibers can be appropriately oriented in a direction of ± 45 degrees and a direction perpendicular to the fiber orientation, that is, in a direction of 90 degrees.

The matrix may be formed by a method of impregnating a reinforcing fiber with a pitch, a thermoplastic resin, a thermosetting resin, or the like, a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, a chemical vapor infiltration method (CV).
A method of forming pyrolytic carbon according to I) or the like can be used. As the pitch, coal pitch, petroleum pitch, synthetic pitch and the like can be used, and isotropic pitch and mesophase pitch using these pitches as a raw material can be used.
Epoxy resins, furan resins, urea resins, and the like can be used.

Fillers such as carbon powder, graphite powder, silicon carbide powder, silica powder, carbon fiber whiskers, carbon short fibers, and silicon carbide short fibers are mixed and impregnated with pitch, thermosetting resin and thermoplastic resin. You can also. As the carbonization conditions, heating in an inert gas is usually 400 to 3500C, particularly preferably 500 to 3300C. The obtained fiber-reinforced carbon composite material can be subjected to a densification treatment,
Specifically, the density of the composite material can be improved by repeatedly passing through the matrix forming step.

The fiber volume content (Vf) of the fiber-reinforced carbon composite material suitable for use in the present invention is usually 30 to 80 vol.
%, Preferably 40 to 70 vol%. The matrix content (Vm) of the fiber-reinforced carbon composite material suitable for use in the present invention is usually 20 to 70 vol%, preferably 25 vol%.
６０60 vol%. The porosity of the fiber-reinforced carbon composite material suitable for use in the present invention is generally 0 to 10 vol%, preferably 0 to 5 vol%. The bulk density of the fiber reinforced carbon composite material suitable for use in the present invention is usually 1.5 to 2.2.
g / cm ^3, preferably not 1.6~2.1g / cm ^3, more preferably a 1.7~2.0g / cm ^3.

In the present invention, the conveying member is formed of the above-described fiber reinforced carbon composite material, preferably a carbon fiber reinforced carbon composite material (C / C composite). Preferably, a coating is provided. In particular, it is preferable to provide a metal coating.

The metal coating may prevent scattering of the carbon powder while maintaining the basic physical properties of the carbon material. Therefore, it is not necessary to impregnate and infiltrate the inside of the carbon material. It does not change the physical properties of the carbon material itself, such as strength. Only the surface of the carbon material need be coated, and the physical properties of the carbon material itself are not substantially changed.

The type of metal to be coated is not particularly limited, but gold, silver, copper, tin, nickel, a mixture thereof, an alloy mainly composed of these metals, etc., which are used for plating, are preferably used, and are particularly resistant to rust. Gold, tin, nickel, mixtures thereof, and alloys mainly containing these metals are preferably used. In addition, various kinds of metal can be plated on the base plating and used.

The thickness of the metal film is usually 0.1 to 500 μm.
m, preferably 1 to 200 μm, more preferably 1 to 1
00 μm, most preferably 2 to 50 μm. When the film thickness is smaller than the above range, airtightness, it is difficult to prevent the scattering of carbon powder, and when the film thickness is larger than the above range, the film is easily peeled or the basic physical properties of the carbon material are changed, which is not preferable. . Before forming the metal film, polishing or roughening may be performed to improve the adhesion between the film and the carbon material.

The metal-coated carbon material thus obtained can be obtained by a known method such as CVD, physical vapor deposition (PV).
D), electrolytic plating, electroless plating and the like. The transfer member of the present invention has a thermal conductivity of usually 5 to 120.
0 W / m · K, preferably 60 to 1200 W / m · K,
More preferably, it is 150 to 1200 W / m · K, and most preferably, it is 300 to 1200 W / m · K.

The tensile strength is usually 20 to 1000MP.
a, preferably 50 to 600 MPa, more preferably 60 to 500 MPa. The tensile modulus is usually 3 to 800 GPa, especially 20 to 700 GPa.
a is preferred. Furthermore, the coefficient of thermal expansion is usually-
3.0-20 × 10 ⁻⁶ / ° C., preferably −2.0-10
× 10 ^-6 / ° C, more preferably -1.0 to 7.0 × 1
It is preferably 0 ^-6 / ° C. These physical properties do not substantially change before and after metal coating, and the amount of change in various physical properties such as thermal conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion and mechanical strength after metal coating is usually ± 5% as compared to before metal coating. Within, preferably within ± 3%, more preferably within ± 1%.

In this way, without impairing the basic physical properties such as thermal conductivity, coefficient of thermal expansion and mechanical strength, it has excellent airtightness, prevents scattering of carbon powder, and is easy to solder and silver braze. A transport member made of a metal-coated fiber-carbon composite material having an excellent metal surface is obtained.

[0019]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following Examples, but it should not be construed that the present invention is limited thereto.

[Example 1] PAN-based carbon fibers having a tensile strength of 3500 MPa and a tensile modulus of 230 GPa were unidirectionally aligned and then laminated, impregnated with carbonaceous pitch, and pressure carbonized at a pressure of 1 MPa and a temperature of 1000 ° C. Processing resulted in a unidirectionally reinforced C / C composite. The one-way reinforced C / C
The composite was 1000 mm × 60 as shown in FIG.
It was processed into a shape of 0 mm × 8 mm. At this time, the carbon fibers of the molded body were oriented in the direction of the tip A and B from the hand so that the rigidity of the molded body could be sufficiently obtained. This part was subjected to electrolytic nickel plating at a current of 7 A for 20 minutes after the cathode was degreased. The bulk density of the molded body thus obtained is 1.70.
g / cm ³ , fiber volume content Vf = 50%, and tensile modulus 128 GPa. No carbon powder peculiar to the carbon material was found on the surface of the C / C composite, and white paper was pressed and rubbed strongly several times, but the paper was not stained black and the surface was completely covered. The nickel-coated C / C composite was cut into squares with a cutter and peeled off with an adhesive tape, but the metal film was not peeled off.
The adhesion was sufficient. The nickel-coated C / C
The composite is weighed about 1 kg at the position shown in Fig. 1.
2 with the graphite plate placed in the air in the state shown in FIG.
Into an electric furnace for 10 minutes, then take it out of the furnace
After 50 cycles of thermal shock test of leaving and cooling to room temperature for 0 minutes, no abnormalities such as peeling were observed on the metal film, and the metal film was in good condition without peeling even when the peeling test was performed. And no change in weight was observed. Next, with respect to the C / C composite before and after the thermal shock test, deflection of its own weight at both ends of the tip was measured in a cantilever state as shown in FIG. As a result, as shown in Table 1, even after the test, no increase in deflection due to thermal load was observed. The deflection change amount in Table 1 is a value measured by [deflection change amount] = [deflection amount after test] − [deflection amount before test].

[0021]

[Table 1]

Example 2 Pitch-based carbon fibers having a tensile strength of 3500 MPa, a tensile elasticity of 800 GPa and a thermal conductivity of 300 W / mK were aligned in one direction, laminated, and further impregnated with carbonaceous pitch to a pressure of 1 MPa. Temperature 1000
The carbonized body was pressurized at ℃ to obtain a unidirectionally reinforced C / C composite. The unidirectional reinforced C / C composite was processed into a shape of 1000 mm × 600 mm × 8 mm as shown in FIG. At this time, the carbon fibers of the molded body were oriented in the direction of the tip A and B from the hand so that the rigidity of the molded body could be sufficiently obtained. This part was subjected to electrolytic nickel plating at a current of 7 A for 20 minutes after the cathode was degreased. The bulk density of the molded body thus obtained is 1.90 g / cm ³ , and the fiber volume content V
f = 60%, tensile elasticity 245 GPa, thermal conductivity in the carbon fiber orientation direction was 400 W / mK, and thermal conductivity in the direction perpendicular to the carbon fiber was 20 W / mK. No carbon powder peculiar to the carbon material was found on the surface of the C / C composite, and white paper was pressed and rubbed strongly several times, but the paper was not stained black and the surface was completely covered. The nickel-coated C / C composite was cut into squares with a cutter and peeled off with an adhesive tape, and the test was performed. The metal film was not peeled off and the adhesion was sufficient. In addition, while the graphite plate having a weight of about 1 kg was placed on the nickel-coated C / C composite at the position shown in FIG. 1, it was put into an electric furnace at 450 ° C. in the atmosphere for 10 minutes in the state shown in FIG. After 50 cycles of a thermal shock test in which the sample was taken out of the furnace and left at room temperature for 10 minutes and cooled, no abnormalities such as peeling were observed on the metal film, and the metal film was peeled even after the above peeling test was performed. It was in a good condition without any change in weight. Next, before and after the thermal shock test,
With respect to the / C composite, the deflection of its own weight at both ends was measured in a cantilevered state as shown in FIG. As a result, as shown in Table 2, even after the test, no increase in the deflection due to the thermal load was observed.

[0023]

[Table 2]

[Comparative Example 1] Aluminum (JIS standard)
A2017) was used as a base material to fabricate a part having the same shape as in Example 1. The density of the obtained part is 2.71 g / c.
m ³ , and the tensile modulus was 71 GPa. Similarly, a thermal shock test was performed to measure the deflection under its own weight. as a result,
As shown in Table 3, the tip portion was largely bent by thermal stress, causing plastic deformation, and could not withstand thermal shock.

[0025]

[Table 3]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conveying member manufactured in an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a use state of the conveying member of the present invention in an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view showing a state of a deflection amount measurement test in an example.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A transfer member used for an industrial robot, comprising a fiber reinforced carbon composite material. 2. The conveying member according to claim 1, wherein the entire surface of the fiber-reinforced carbon composite material is metal-coated.