JP2002340195A - Method of manufacturing gasket for precision mechanical equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a manufacturing method of a gasket having low hardness of a rubber part, superior in sealing performance, and improved so that moisture and gas do not pass through the rubber part. SOLUTION: This manufacturing method of the gasket for precision mechanical equipment is characterized by covering a rubber material by forming a coating film of a resin material on a surface of the hardened rubber material by hardening the rubber material in prescribed hardness by irradiating an active energy line to the stuck rubber material after sticking the liquid rubber material hardening by irradiation of the active energy line to a prescribed position of a sealing surface, and can thereby obtain the gasket having high follow-up performance to a shape of a mating member being a sealing object, superior in the sealing performance, having barrier performance to the moisture and the gas in a part of the hardened rubber material, holding high sealing performance, and capable of maintaining the function of the precision mechanical equipment over a long period.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a gasket used for sealing a precision instrument, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing a gasket, which has a low hardness in a rubber portion and excellent sealing performance, and prevents moisture and gas from permeating the rubber portion. And a method of manufacturing an improved gasket.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, precision instruments such as notebook personal computers, mobile phones, and digital cameras are often taken outdoors. At this time, if foreign substances such as moisture and dust contained in the air and various floating gases enter the inside of the hard disk drive (HDD) and other precision parts, they hinder the operation of these precision devices and deteriorate electrical insulation. There is a high possibility of inviting or causing functional impairment. Therefore, these precision instruments have a structure in which gaskets are used to completely seal them so that foreign substances existing in the outside world do not enter.

[0003]

The foamed elastomer, which is one of the materials for such a gasket, has a low rubber hardness, so that it has a high conformability to the shape of a main body container, a dust-proof cover, etc. of the HDD to be sealed, so that it is sealed. Although it has excellent properties, it has a high degree of permeability (permeability) such as moisture and gas.

[0004] On the other hand, fluoro rubber has a low degree of permeability to moisture and gas, but has a rubber hardness of JIS-JIS.
Since it is as high as A60 degrees, it is necessary to increase the rigidity of the mating member to be sealed, which is unsuitable for an electronic device in which the mating member is formed to be thin in size and weight, and the material cost increases.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and to improve the sealing property of the rubber portion with low hardness, and to improve the gasket so that moisture and gas do not pass through the rubber portion. It is to provide a method of manufacturing the.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a gasket for a precision instrument, comprising attaching a liquid rubber material which is cured by irradiation with an active energy ray to a predetermined position on a sealing surface. After that, the applied rubber material is irradiated with an active energy ray to cure the rubber material to a predetermined hardness, and then a resin material film is formed on the surface of the cured rubber material to form the rubber material. Is characterized by being covered. Preferably, the rubber material is covered with a film formed by laminating films of different resin materials.

That is, in the method of manufacturing a gasket for a precision instrument according to the present invention, for example, a liquid rubber material is discharged from a nozzle of a coating robot and adhered to a predetermined position on a sealing surface. Irradiation with an active energy ray such as an electron beam or a predetermined hardness, preferably JIS-
A is for curing to a low rubber hardness of 20 to 50 degrees. As a result, the hardness of the rubber material is low, the followability to the shape of the mating member to be sealed is high, and the sealing property is excellent, and it is not necessary to increase the rigidity of the mating member to be sealed. It is possible to easily and inexpensively manufacture a gasket having good recovery from deformation and reusable. Further, since the method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment according to the present invention covers the rubber material by forming a film of the resin material on the surface of the cured rubber material, the cured rubber material is exposed to moisture or gas. Not only can be prevented from permeating, but also the volatilization of gas components from the rubber material can be prevented. Furthermore, if the rubber material is covered by a film formed by laminating films of different resin materials, the use environment of the gasket to be manufactured, the material of the mating member to be sealed, and the product function of precision equipment using the gasket will be improved. Accordingly, an optimal gasket can be manufactured. Therefore, according to the method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment according to the present invention, it is possible to manufacture a gasket capable of maintaining the function of precision equipment for a long period of time while maintaining high sealing performance.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an embodiment of a method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4 while referring to a main body container of a hard disk drive (HDD) as a storage device of a computer. A case of manufacturing a gasket that seals between a dust cover and a dust cover will be described as an example.

In the method of manufacturing a gasket for a precision instrument according to the present embodiment, the dustproof cover 1 of the HDD is placed on the horizontal table 2 as shown in FIG. The liquid rubber material 5 is discharged from the nozzle 4 and adheres to a predetermined position on the surface (sealing surface) of the dustproof cover 1.

The rubber material 5 is not particularly limited as long as it undergoes a curing reaction when irradiated with an active energy ray such as an ultraviolet ray or an electron beam. For example, it may be composed of an oligomer having a polymerizable carbon-carbon double bond at a terminal of a polymer chain and a low molecular compound having at least one polymerizable carbon-carbon double bond in one molecule.

As the above-mentioned photopolymerizable oligomer, polyester acrylate, urethane acrylate, epoxy acrylate, polybutadiene acrylate, silicon acrylate and the like can be generally mentioned. As a photopolymerizable low molecular weight compound used as a crosslinking agent or a diluent, alkyl acrylate or methacrylic acid ester of acrylic acid or methacrylic acid is used as monoacrylate, and acrylic acid or methacrylic acid is used as polyvalent acrylate. An ester compound with a hydric alcohol can be exemplified.

When ultraviolet irradiation is used as a means for curing the liquid rubber material 5, for example, a photopolymerization initiator such as benzoin ether, benzyldimethyl ketal, α-hydroxyalkylphenone, α-aminoalkylphenone is added.

Next, the rubber material adhered to the surface of the dust-proof cover 1 is irradiated with ultraviolet rays, and 5.2 of JIS K6301 is applied.
Is hardened to a hardness of 20 to 50 degrees in JIS-A hardness specified in. At this time, the liquid rubber material 5 adhered to the surface of the dustproof cover 1 is an elastic solid having a cross-sectional shape as shown in FIG. 2 and an overall height of 0.5 to 3 mm. The cured rubber material 5 may be subjected to a high-temperature treatment as necessary to remove volatile components contained in the rubber material 5.

Thereafter, a liquid resin material is sprayed on the surface of the hardened rubber material 5 on the dustproof cover 1 and dried to form a film 6 of a resin material having a thickness of about 100 μm, as shown in FIG. 7 are laminated on each other to completely cover the rubber material 5 to complete the gasket 8.

As the resin material for forming the coatings 6 and 7, an optimum material is selected according to the operating environment of the gasket 8, the material of the mating member to be sealed, and the product function of the precision equipment using the gasket 8. However, for example, a fluorine resin is used to form the
Can be used to form a polyparaxylene resin.

After manufacturing the gasket 8 on the surface of the dust-proof cover 1, the dust-proof cover 1 is assembled to the main body container 9 of the HDD, so that the dust-proof cover 1 and the main body container (partner member) 9
Can be sealed by a gasket 8.

At this time, the hardness of the portion of the rubber material 5 constituting the gasket 8 is set to a low value of 20 to 50 degrees according to JIS-A, so that the followability to the shape of the main body container 9 of the HDD is high. It is excellent in sealing performance, and it is not necessary to increase the rigidity of the main body container 9. Further, the gasket 8 can be used repeatedly since the deformation recovery from the compressed state is good for a long period of time.

Further, since the gasket 8 is formed by completely covering the surface of the cured rubber material 5 with the coatings 6 and 7 of the resin material, it is necessary to prevent moisture and gas from passing through the rubber material 5. Not only can the gas component be prevented, but also the volatilization of the gas component from the rubber material 5 can be prevented. Therefore, according to the method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment of the present embodiment, it is possible to manufacture the gasket 8 that can maintain the high sealing performance and maintain the function of the HDD for a long period of time.

As described above, one embodiment of the method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment according to the present invention has been described in detail. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications are possible. Needless to say. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the resin material is sprayed on the surface of the cured rubber material 5 to form the coating 6,
Although the film 7 is formed, these films 6 and 7 can be formed by vapor deposition. In the above-described embodiment, two layers of the resin material are formed on the surface of the cured rubber material 5. However, depending on the use environment of the precision equipment, only one layer may be formed or three layers may be formed. Can be formed.

[0020]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment of the present invention, the hardness of the rubber material portion is low, and the followability to the shape of the mating member to be sealed is high and the sealing is performed. It is possible to easily and inexpensively manufacture a gasket which is excellent in resilience, does not need to increase the rigidity of a mating member to be sealed, and has good deformation recovery from a compressed state for a long period of time, and can be used repeatedly. it can. In addition, since the surface of the cured rubber material is covered with a film of the resin material, the cured rubber material can not only have a barrier property for preventing moisture, gas, and the like from permeating, but also have a rubber property. It is also possible to prevent gas components from volatilizing from the material. Therefore, according to the method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment according to the present invention, it is possible to manufacture a gasket that can maintain the function of the precision equipment for a long period of time while maintaining high sealing performance.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side sectional view schematically showing a state in which a liquid rubber material is adhered to a contact surface.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view showing a state where a rubber material is cured.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a state where the surface of a cured rubber material is covered with a film of a resin material laminated thereon.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing an exploded state of a precision device using a gasket.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Dust-proof cover 2 Horizontal table 3 XYZ-axis coating robot 4 Nozzle 5 Rubber material 6,7 Coating 8 Gasket 9 Main container

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3J040 AA01 AA12 BA07 EA16 EA48 FA05 HA30 4H017 AA01 AA04 AB01 AC08 AD02 AD03 AE04 AE05

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A liquid rubber material which is cured by irradiation with an active energy ray is adhered to a predetermined position on a sealing surface, and the adhered rubber material is irradiated with an active energy ray to harden the rubber material to a predetermined hardness. A method for manufacturing a gasket for precision equipment, comprising: forming a resin material film on the surface of the cured rubber material to cover the rubber material. 2. The method for manufacturing a gasket for a precision instrument according to claim 1, wherein films of different resin materials are laminated to cover the rubber material.