JP2003082494A - Plated resin article and method of use therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a simple method for obtaining a plated resin article in which nonplated faces are partially formed on the surface of a resin molding, and obtaining an integrated article in which the plated resin article and a certain kind of TPE (thermoplastic elastomer) composition are stuck. SOLUTION: Two liquid urethane hardening type ink is printed on the surface of a key top member 2 as a molding obtained by using a thermoplastic resin composition consisting of an ABS (acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) resin, and, after that, plating treatment is performed thereto, so that nonplated faces 22 are obtained in the printed parts, and, further, plated faces 21 are obtained in the pars other than the printed parts. Further, the key top member 2 being the plated resin article is inserted into an injection molding die, and a thermoplastic resin composition essentially consisting of polyester based TPE is injected thereto, so that the integrated article 20 in which the poryester based TPE composition 23 is stuck to the printed parts of the key top member 2 is obtained.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a resin-plated product and its use method in the fields of resin processing, plating, machine assembly, clothing, etc. The present invention relates to a resin-plated product applied to equipment, clothing accessories, etc. and its usage.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a resin-plated product obtained by plating a surface of a resin-molded product with a metal has been used in a great many fields such as a resin processing field, a plating processing field, a machine assembly field, a clothing field and the like. The purpose of plating the resin molded product in this way is to change the appearance to a metal, to enhance designability, to enhance durability and weather resistance, to impart antistatic property, electrical conductivity, and electromagnetic wave shielding property.

As the resin used in the resin molding for plating, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene resin (hereinafter referred to as "ABS resin") is most often used. For this resin molded product, cleaning process, etching process, catalyst applying process, electroless plating process of copper or nickel,
The electroplating process of nickel or chrome and the post-treatment process are sequentially performed, so that a plating surface is formed on the surface of the resin molded product and the resin surface is changed to a metal surface.

Here, most of the above steps are wet steps, and usually the resin molded product is completely immersed in a chemical liquid such as a plating liquid, so that the entire surface of the resin molded product is plated. Therefore, when it is desired to partially form a plated surface or partially form a non-plated surface on the surface of the resin molded product, the following method is available, for example.

The first method is a method in which a masking tape is attached to a portion of a resin molded product which is not desired to be plated, and then the plating treatment is carried out. According to this method, even when the resin molded article is dipped in a chemical solution, the chemical solution does not come into contact with the portion to which the masking tape is attached, so that the plating surface is not formed. However, in this method, the chemical solution may penetrate into the pasting surface of the masking tape in the middle of a long plating process, and in the worst case, the masking tape may be peeled off in the middle, so that a half-finished plating surface is formed. In many cases, there was a problem that at least the boundary line between the plated surface and the non-plated surface was blurred.

The second method is a method in which a water-repellent masking coating material is applied to a portion of the resin molded product which is not desired to be plated, and then the plating treatment is carried out. According to this method
Even when the resin molded article is dipped in a chemical solution, the chemical solution does not come into contact with the portion coated with the water-repellent masking coating material, so that the plating surface is not formed. However, in this method, the adhesive activity of the portion of the resin molded product coated with the masking coating material is low after the plating treatment is completed, so that adhesion with an adhesive, printing with an ink, coating with a paint, etc. In the case of carrying out the above, there was a problem that a post-treatment such as polishing of the portion of the resin molded product coated with the masking coating material was required.

The third method is to use an ABS resin and the AB resin.
This is a method of plating a resin molded product that is two-color molded with a resin (for example, a polycarbonate resin (hereinafter referred to as "PC resin")) whose plating surface is not formed under the plating conditions of S resin. When a resin molded product obtained by two-color molding of PC resin is subjected to plating treatment under ABS resin plating conditions, a plating surface is formed on the portion where the surface is ABS, while a plating surface is formed on the portion where the surface is PC. Since the plating surface is not formed, the boundary line between the plating surface and the non-plating surface can be clearly seen, and since the PC portion which is the non-plating surface is the same as a normal PC resin molded product, adhesion using an adhesive, It is possible to print with ink, paint with paint, etc. However, with this method, it is more costly and time-consuming to design and manufacture a mold for two-color molding, and therefore two-color molding is required. Molding itself is expensive Both depending on the shape of the two-color molding there is a problem that sometimes fabrication itself of the mold is not possible.

As described above, the demand for partially forming the plating surface or partially forming the non-plating surface on the surface of the resin molded product may be due not only to the design reason but also to the functional reason. Many. Due to this functional reason, for example, when one side of a resin molded product is to be plated and the back side is to be bonded with resin or wood products using an adhesive, one side of the resin molded product is to be plated and the back side is made of resin or rubber. For example, when heat bonding or vulcanization bonding is desired, or when one side of the resin molded product is a plating surface and resin or thermoplastic elastomer is injection bonded to the back surface.

However, the plated surface is not suitable for adhesion using an adhesive, and is not suitable for vulcanization adhesion using unvulcanized rubber that is specially compounded. In addition, a plated resin molded product is inserted into an injection molding die and a thermoplastic resin or a thermoplastic plastic elastomer (Thermo Plastic Elastomer.
"E". ), It is difficult to secure the adhesive force between the plating surface and the thermoplastic resin or TPE. Therefore, as described above, there is a demand for partially forming a plating surface or partially forming a non-plating surface on the surface of the resin molded product, and the non-plating surface also has a property suitable for performing adhesion and the like. There is a desire to have it.

On the other hand, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 7-212187 or the like, a plastic molded product having a two-component urethane curable ink printed on the surface is used as an injection molding die as insert injection molding using TPE. By inserting the polyester-based TPE composition into the mold, the printed part and the polyester-based TPE composition are bonded by heat and pressure during injection, and the polyester-based TPE composition is bonded to the printed part of the plastic molded product. It is known to obtain an integrated product.

[0011]

The most simple method for satisfying the demand for partially forming a plated surface or partially forming a non-plated surface on the surface of a resin molded product is to plate the resin molded product. This is a method of performing plating after performing normal printing such as screen printing or pad printing using a certain type of ink on the part that you do not want to print, and by this method, a non-plated surface can be obtained on the printed part of the resin molded product. It would be convenient.

However, according to the conventional wisdom, since the etching step in the plating process is a step of oxidizing organic matter which is easily reacted by using chromic acid or the like, the printed portion which is an organic layer has a different degree to the resin surface. It is assumed that the printed part will be roughened in the same manner as above, and if the printed part is roughened to some extent, it may have weak adhesion, but a plated surface is formed on the printed part.In that case, a half-finished plated surface is formed. It was a common theory that it was formed.

When one side of the resin molded product is to be plated and the back surface is to be injection-bonded with the TPE composition, the resin molded product obtained by the above-mentioned method is a non-plated surface is used as an injection mold. By injecting a certain TPE composition that has been inserted, the TPE is applied to the printed portion of the resin molded product.
It would be advantageous to have an integrated article with the composition adhered.

The present invention has been made under the technical background as described above, and achieves the following objects. An object of the present invention is to obtain a resin-plated product in which a non-plated surface is partially formed on the surface of a resin molded product by a simple method. Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for using a resin-plated product, which is capable of obtaining an integrated product in which the resin-plated product and a certain TPE composition are adhered to each other by a simple method.

[0015]

The present invention adopts the following means in order to achieve the above object. The resin-plated product according to the present invention is obtained by applying a plating treatment after printing with a two-component urethane curable ink on the surface of a resin molded product obtained by using a thermoplastic resin composition mainly composed of ABS resin. Thus, a non-plated surface is obtained on the printed portion. Further, the method for using the resin-plated product according to the present invention is to insert the resin-plated product into an injection molding die and inject a thermoplastic resin composition containing a polyester-based thermoplastic elastomer as a main component to obtain a resin-plated product. It is characterized in that an integrated product in which the elastomer composition is adhered to the printed portion of is obtained.

[Resin Molded Product] As the resin molded product, a product molded by using a thermoplastic resin composition mainly composed of an ABS resin can be used. It is considered that the larger the polybutadiene content in this thermoplastic resin composition is, the easier the plating is. Commercially available ABS resins include high impact type resins having a relatively high polybutadiene content and high fluidity type resins having a relatively low polybutadiene content. Since these ABS resins can be plated by finely adjusting the concentration and the treatment time, there is no problem in using general-purpose ABS resins as they are as raw materials for resin molded products. Also A
Plating is possible even if the BS resin contains another resin (for example, about 20% PC resin).

[Printing Ink] As the printing ink, a two-component urethane curable ink can be used. As the two-component urethane curable ink, those in which the main liquid is a solution of a vinyl chloride-based, acrylic-based, or polyol-based polymer or oligomer and the sub-liquid is a polyisocyanate compound can be preferably used, and particularly the main liquid The vinyl chloride type is preferably used.

This two-component urethane curable ink is used to print on the surface of an ABS resin molded product. As a printing method, ordinary printing such as screen printing or pad printing can be used, but if pinholes occur during printing, it causes trouble, so printing is carefully performed by double printing or the like. In order to cure the ink after printing, it is usually heated at 70 to 80 ° C. for 1 hour or more, and preferably at 60 to 80 ° C. for 4 to 12 hours for printing. This printing temperature may be higher depending on the physical properties of the ink, but the fabric of the molded product is AB
If it is an S-based resin and the baking temperature is too high, the molded product will soften and shrink or deform, so if it is a molded product using ordinary ABS, it may be a molded product using heat resistant ABS at 70 ° C. For example, 80 ° C seems to be the upper limit.

In printing using this two-component urethane curable ink, when a character is printed on the surface of the ABS resin molded product, the plating does not adhere to the printed portion even if the plating treatment described later is performed, and therefore the printed portion is not printed. It is possible to obtain the non-plated surface on which the character is displayed. This character is, for example, a letter, number, symbol, design, or the like. ABS with a non-plated character displayed on the surface like this
The resin molded product can be suitably used, for example, as a key top member in a keyboard of a mobile phone terminal.

[Plating Treatment] The ABS resin molded product that has been printed and baked as described above is subjected to a plating treatment. This plating process is a normal method in which the cleaning process, the etching process, the catalyst application process, the electroless plating process of copper or nickel, the electroplating process of nickel or chromium, and the post-treatment process are sequentially performed as described above. good. The method of proceeding the etching process varies depending on the resin used as the raw material, but this is left to the hand of a well-known plating company. In the resin-plated product obtained by performing this plating treatment, the non-plated surface is obtained in the printed portion and the plated surface is obtained in the portion other than the printed portion.

[Injection molding] The above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-211187
In the same manner as the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. JP-A No. 2004-115, the resin-plated product obtained as described above is inserted into an injection molding die and a polyester-based TPE composition is injected to obtain a printed portion and a polyester-based TPE composition. Is bonded by heat and pressure at the time of injection, and polyester TP is applied to the printed part of the resin-plated product.
An integrated product in which the E composition was adhered could be obtained. That is, it was confirmed that the printed portion, which is the non-plated surface of the resin-plated product, has the adhesive ability to the injection of the polyester-based TPE composition.

Here, the polyester TPE will be described. As the polyester-based TPE, a commercially available block polymer of polyalkylene terephthalate and polymethylene ether glycol terephthalate can be used, and particularly polybutylene terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as "PBT").
And a polytetramethylene ether glycol terephthalate (hereinafter referred to as “PTMEG”) multiblock polymer can be preferably used.

The thermoplastic resin composition whose main component is the polyester-based TPE used is polyester-based TP.
In addition to E, a soft polymer, a plasticizer, a crystallization nucleating agent, a filler, a pigment, a dye, a mold release accelerator, etc. may be contained. As the soft polymer, ethylene propylene rubber (hereinafter referred to as "EPR"), nitrile rubber (hereinafter referred to as "NBR")
Say. ), Styrene ethylene butylene styrene block polymer (hereinafter referred to as “SEBS”), and polypropylene resin can be used.

[0024]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in place of examples.

[Example 1] First, as an ABS resin, "JS
RABS # 42 (manufactured by JSR Corporation) "is used to form the key top assembly 1 which is a resin molded product made of ABS resin shown in FIG.
It was created. Subsequently, "VIC white (manufactured by Seiko Advance Co., Ltd.)" was prepared as a two-component urethane curable ink using a curing agent and a solvent specified by the manufacturer, and the two-component urethane curable ink was used on a screen printing machine. Then, in each of the keytop members 2 of the keytop assembly 1, a character is printed on the upper surface of the keytop member 2, which is supposed to be used for a keyboard of a mobile phone terminal, and the entire lower surface is printed. Then, in order to cure the ink after printing, it was placed in a hot air dryer and heated at 70 ° C. for 4 hours for baking.

Subsequently, the key top member 2 made of ABS resin obtained by removing the frame portion 3 and the side gate 4 of the key top assembly 1 is subjected to ordinary plating treatment, and the surface thereof is subjected to about 3
The electroless copper plating of μm, the nickel electroplating of about 6 μm, and the chrome electroplating of about 0.5 μm were placed. Here, the character printed portion on the upper surface of the key top member 2 and the printed portion on the lower surface were not plated at all, and the other surfaces were all plated.

The key top member 2 which is this resin-plated product
2 was inserted into the injection molding die 10 shown in FIG. 2, and "Primalloy 1700 (manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation)" was injected as a thermoplastic resin composition containing polyester TPE as a main component.
The details of the contents of Primalloy 1700 have not been published, but the outline is known, and it is said that the polyester-based TPE, which is a multi-block polymer of PBT and PTMEG, is the main component and contains some SEBS. However, it is unclear about the minor components added.

In this injection molding, specifically, the key top member 2 is inserted into the movable side template 11 and the fixed side template 1 is inserted.
2, the injection mold 10 is closed and the mold temperature is 30 ° C.
Then, the thermoplastic resin composition containing polyester-based TPE as a main component is injected from the pin gate 15 into the cavity portion 14 formed between the movable side mold plate 11 and the fixed side mold plate 12 at an injection temperature of 220 ° C. After the key top member 2 and the polyester-based TPE composition were integrated, the injection molding die 10 was opened and extruded with the ejector pin 13 to obtain an integrated product 20 shown in FIG. This integrated object 20
In the above, the polyester-based TPE composition 23 was firmly adhered to the non-plated surface 22 which is the printed portion of the key top member 2.

[0029]

As described above in detail, according to the resin-plated product of the present invention, the two-component urethane is formed on the surface of the resin molded product obtained by using the thermoplastic resin composition mainly composed of ABS resin. The non-plated surface can be obtained in the printed portion by a simple method of performing plating treatment after printing using the curable ink. Further, according to the resin-plated product according to the present invention, a simple method of printing a character on the surface of the resin-molded product using a two-component urethane curable ink and then performing a plating process makes The non-plated surface on which the character is displayed can be obtained. Further, according to the method for using a resin-plated product according to the present invention, the resin-plated product is inserted into an injection molding die to make a polyester-based TP.
By a simple method of injecting a thermoplastic resin composition containing E as a main component, it is possible to obtain an integrated product in which the polyester-based TPE composition is adhered to the printed portion of the resin-plated product.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 (a) is a plan view showing a key top aggregate made of ABS resin, and FIG. 1 (b) is an A- of FIG. 1 (a).
It is an A'line sectional view.

FIG. 2 is a front sectional view showing a state in which a key top member made of ABS resin is inserted into an injection molding die.

FIG. 3 is a front sectional view showing an integrated product of an ABS resin key top member and a polyester-based TPE composition obtained by injection molding.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Key top assembly 2 ... Key top member (made of ABS resin) 3 ... frame part 4 ... Side gate 10 ... Injection mold 11 ... movable side template 12 ... Fixed side template 13 ... Ejector pin 14 ... Cavity part 15 ... Pin Gate 20 ... Integrated product 21 ... Plating surface (character part is non-plating surface) 22 ... Non-plated surface 23 ... Polyester type TPE composition

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takashi Goto             1-9 Nihonbashihonmachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo             Within Taisei Plus Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Kazuo Otomo             1-9 Nihonbashihonmachi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo             Within Taisei Plus Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 4F100 AB13C AB16C AB17C AK51B                       AK74A BA03 BA07 BA10C                       EH71C GB48 HB31B JD08                       JG03 JL00 JL09                 4K024 AA02 AA03 AB08 BA14 BB21                       BC04 FA07 GA02

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Mainly acrylonitrile-butadiene-
By printing using a two-component urethane curable ink on the surface of a resin molded product obtained by using a thermoplastic resin composition comprising a styrene resin, and then performing a plating treatment, a non-plated surface is formed on the printed portion. A resin-plated product characterized by being obtained. 2. The resin-plated product according to claim 1, wherein a character is printed on the surface of the resin-molded product using a two-component urethane curable ink, and then a plating process is performed to perform the printing. A resin-plated product, characterized in that a non-plated surface having the character displayed on a portion thereof is obtained. 3. The resin-plated product obtained by inserting the resin-plated product according to claim 1 into an injection molding die and injecting a thermoplastic resin composition containing a polyester-based thermoplastic elastomer as a main component. A method for using a resin-plated product, which comprises obtaining an integrated product in which the elastomer composition is adhered to a printed portion.