JP2580692B2 - Artificial diamond-coated gold and gold alloy ornaments - Google Patents

Description

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to gold and gold alloy ornaments whose surface is coated with hard artificial diamond and is therefore resistant to scratches and which retains its decorative aesthetic value forever. Things.

[Conventional technology]

In general, the manufacture of jewelry and accessories such as watch bands, bracelets, lighters, brooches, bendants, buckles, fountain pens, cigarette cases, tie pins and cufflinks, as well as various crafts (hereinafter collectively referred to as ornaments) In the case of pure gold and various gold alloys, or a combination of these gold and gold alloys, select a plurality of types with different color tones, and use these as materials for forging, rolling, explosion, and extrusion methods. Composite plate materials manufactured by performing such processing methods as above are used.

In addition, the above gold alloy is expressed in terms of% by weight (hereinafter,% means% by weight), for the purpose of changing the color tone and strengthening,
One or more of Ag, Pd, Cu, and Ni: 1 to 40
%, With the balance being composed of Au and inevitable impurities. By the way, Ag as an alloy component is known.
Changes the color to blue, Pd and Ni turn white,
Cu turns red.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

However, in the above ornaments, the pure gold and gold alloy constituting the ornaments are easily damaged due to softness. In particular, in the case of ornaments having a delicate and complicated pattern on the surface, careful handling of the ornaments is required. You need to be careful.

On the other hand, in order to cope with such a problem, a known and artificial diamond deposition method, that is, a thermionic emission method described in JP-A-58-91100, and a high-frequency radiation method described in JP-A-58-135117. Plasma method, and JP-A-58-11
Attempts have also been made to coat the surface of the gold and gold alloy ornaments with artificial diamond using the microwave method described in Japanese Patent No. 0494, At present, diamond does not precipitate, and it is practically impossible to coat artificial diamond.

[Means for solving the problem]

In view of the above, the present inventors have conducted research to make it possible to coat artificial diamond on the surface of conventional gold and gold alloy decorative articles. As a result, the gold and gold alloy decorative Prior to coating the surface of the article with an artificial diamond, a thin film made of at least one of Hf, Zr, Ti, Ta, Cr, V, Nb, Mo, Si, and W is applied to the article by, for example, a sputtering method. If formed by a known physical vapor deposition method such as this, since this thin film has an effect of accelerating the deposition of artificial diamond, in the processing of depositing artificial diamond, artificial diamond comes to be deposited with high adhesion, and This thin film was found to have a very good adhesion of gold and gold alloy to the substrate.

The present invention has been made on the basis of the above-described findings, and includes a method of coating a surface of a substrate made of gold or a gold alloy with Hf, Zr, Ti, Ta, Cr, V, Nb, Mo, Si, and W. The present invention is characterized in that a decorative article made of gold and gold alloy coated with artificial diamond through an intermediate layer of at least one kind having an average layer thickness of 0.05 to 0.5 μm.

In the decorative article of the present invention, the average layer thickness of the intermediate layer is set to 0.05 to 0.5 μm because the average layer thickness is 0.05 μm.
If the average thickness is more than 0.5 μm, the color tone of the gold or gold alloy substrate will be impaired.

In addition, the thermionic emission method, which is known as the above-mentioned artificial diamond deposition treatment method, has a reaction mixture opening at an upper position in a quartz vertical reaction vessel 1 as shown in a schematic sectional view in FIG. The reaction mixture gas mainly composed of hydrocarbons and hydrogen introduced by the gas introduction pipe 2 is supported on, for example, a metal tungsten filament 3 and a base plate 4 as thermionic emission materials disposed below the reaction mixture gas. The filaments 3 are heated to 1500 to 2500 ° C. while the atmospheric pressure in the reaction vessel 1 is maintained at 0.1 to 300 torr, and the heating and activation of the reaction mixture gas are performed. Of the substrate surface located below
This is a method in which heating to a temperature in the range of 300 to 1300 ° C. is carried out, and a reaction is carried out for a predetermined time in this state to precipitate and form diamond on the surface of the substrate 5. The method described in the gazette is a method corresponding to this method.

In the high-frequency plasma method, as shown in the schematic sectional view of FIG. 2, a substrate 5 is placed at the center of a quartz horizontal reaction vessel 1 and a reaction mixture provided on one side of the reaction vessel 1. A reaction mixture gas mainly composed of hydrocarbons and hydrogen is introduced from the gas introduction pipe 2 and exhausted from the other side of the reaction vessel 1, while maintaining the atmospheric pressure in the reaction vessel 1 at several torr to several tens torr. At the same time, for example, a frequency: 13.56
MHz, output: 500W, and the substrate 5 in the reaction vessel 1 was added.
A plasma discharge is induced around the substrate, and the plasma discharge is used to activate the reaction mixture gas and increase the surface temperature of the substrate. Then, a reaction is performed for a predetermined time in this state to precipitate diamond on the surface of the substrate. For example, the method described in JP-A-58-135117 corresponds to this.

Further, in the microwave method, as shown in a schematic sectional view in FIG. 3, a substrate 5 is placed at a central position in a vertical reaction vessel 1 made of quartz, and a reaction provided at an upper portion of the reaction vessel 1 is performed. A reaction mixture gas mainly composed of hydrocarbons and hydrogen flows from the mixture gas introduction pipe 2, and the reaction mixture gas is exhausted from the lower part of the reaction vessel 1.
While maintaining the pressure at ~ 300 torr, microwaves of, for example, 2450 MHz supplied through a waveguide 7 provided on the outer periphery of the central portion of the reaction vessel 1 are adjusted by a plunger 8 for plasma adjustment so that the substrate 5 in the reaction vessel 1 A plasma discharge is generated in the surroundings, and the plasma discharge is used to activate and heat the reaction mixture gas and increase the surface temperature of the substrate, and a reaction is performed for a predetermined time in this state to precipitate diamond on the surface of the substrate. Yes, for example,
The method described in JP-A-110494 is a corresponding method.

〔Example〕

Next, the decorative article of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to examples.

Using a normal melting method, a gold and a gold alloy melt shown in Table 1 were prepared and cast to form an ingot, which was then rolled under normal conditions to obtain a plate-shaped substrate having a thickness of 1 mm. On the other hand, a target material having a diameter of 127 mm × thickness: 3 mm made of Hf, Zr, Ti, Ta, Cr, V, Nb, Mo, Si, and W is prepared, and this target material is used. In the plasma sputtering apparatus, an intermediate layer having an average layer thickness shown in Table 1 was formed on the surface of the substrate, and then artificial diamond was formed on the surface of the substrate via the intermediate layer under ordinary conditions. By precipitating, the present invention and decorative materials made of gold alloy (hereinafter referred to as the present decorative material) 1 to 14 were produced, respectively.

For the purpose of comparison, decoration made of comparative gold and gold alloy was performed under the same conditions except that the intermediate layer was not formed. Article materials (hereinafter referred to as comparative ornament materials) 1 to 5 were produced.

The area ratio of the artificial diamond on the surfaces of the various decorative material materials obtained as a result was measured and is shown in Table 1.

〔The invention's effect〕

From the results shown in Table 1, the decorative material of the present invention 1-14
The surface of each of them was coated with artificial diamond at an area ratio of 80% or more, while the comparative decorative material 1
As can be seen from Nos. 1 to 5, it is apparent that artificial diamond cannot be coated on the surface of a decorative product made of pure gold or a gold alloy having a conventionally known component composition.

As described above, the decorative article made of gold and gold alloy of the present invention is hardly scratched because its surface is coated with hard artificial diamond, and the decorative aesthetic value of the ornament is semipermanently impaired. It has useful properties such as no.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 to 3 are schematic cross-sectional views showing an artificial diamond deposition method. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a thermionic emission method, FIG. 2 is a high-frequency plasma method, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a microwave method. . DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Reaction container, 2 ... Reaction mixture gas introduction pipe, 3 ... Thermionic emission material, 4 ... Base plate, 5 ... Substrate, 6 ... High frequency coil, 7 ... Waveguide, 8 ... Plunger.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Norifumi Kikuchi 1-297 Kitabukurocho, Omiya City, Saitama Prefecture Mitsubishi Metal Corporation Central Research Laboratory (56) References JP-A-61-261480 (JP, A) JP-A-62 -202899 (JP, A) JP-A-60-208473 (JP, A) JP-A-62-86161 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] An average layer thickness of at least one of Hf, Zr, Ti, Ta, Cr, V, Nb, Mo, Si, and W on a surface of a substrate made of gold or a gold alloy: 0.05 to Gold and gold alloy ornaments coated with artificial diamond through a 0.5 μm intermediate layer.