JP4948135B2 - Pattern forming method for transparent material and transparent material with pattern formed - Google Patents

Description

  This invention is intended to bring out designs such as various paintings and portraits on the surface of transparent materials such as acrylic glass (hereinafter referred to as acrylic glass) used for daylighting in buildings and indoor partitions. This relates to a pattern forming method.

  The windows of various buildings and the outer shells of showcases require transparent materials for lighting and display purposes. Conventionally, ordinary glass mainly composed of silicon oxide has been used. Acrylic glass made of resin is easy to process, is lighter than glass mainly composed of silicon oxide, and has a lower degree of damage to the human body when it is broken. It has been used as an alternative to conventional glass materials such as for desks, signboards, interiors, and interiors.

  Recently, a number of decorations with irregularities formed on the surface of acrylic glass have been proposed using the ease of processing of acrylic. The first method used for injection molding is acrylic glass. The surface of the mold to be formed is provided with unevenness opposite to the unevenness shown on the surface of the acrylic glass, or the metal mold is applied to the acrylic surface while heating to soften the acrylic surface There is also a method called thermal transfer in which the pattern on the mold surface is copied onto the acrylic surface by matching with the mold surface.

  As a method of forming a concavo-convex pattern on the surface of the above-described mold, after applying a photoresist to the surface of the mold, a film-like photomask is formed, exposed and developed, and then the mold is etched into the mold. There is a method for obtaining a pattern formed on a photomask on a mold surface (see, for example, Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 2).

  On the other hand, a method of drawing a photograph, a pattern, or a character directly on the surface of an acrylic glass by irradiating the surface of a resin material such as a glass material or acrylic glass without using a mold has been proposed (for example, 3), by controlling the size and intensity of the laser beam, it is possible to make fine expressions on the acrylic surface, including photo-like patterns, and use this to photograph human figures on the acrylic surface. A souvenir and so on are produced.

In addition, for conventional glass mainly composed of silicon oxide, there has been a technology to decorate by the sandblasting method, but after applying the masking material to the glass surface, the masking material disappears with low-power laser light. There has also been proposed a method of performing extremely fine and advanced processing on the glass surface by performing sandblasting after processing (see, for example, Patent Document 4).
JP 2004-345286 A Japanese Patent No. 3718588 JP 2001-310600 A JP 2000-280695 A

  By the way, what obtains a metal mold by etching as in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 or Patent Document 2 corrodes a metal with a chemical such as fluorine to form irregularities on the metal surface, and has a rectangular corrosion cross section. However, it is difficult to reproduce free irregularities due to the immersion time in chemicals and unevenness of the overall corrosion degree, etc. It was difficult to obtain the unevenness that expressed the correct design.

  In addition, it is necessary to immerse in the etching solution. When trying to make a mold for acrylic glass for doors and room dividers, the mold becomes too large, the etching tank becomes large, and a large amount of etching solution is required. There was also a problem of high cost.

  In addition, as in Patent Document 3, the method of directly processing a workpiece by irradiating the surface of a glass material or resin material with a laser beam enables fine processing and various expressions such as photographs and paintings. Therefore, it is used to create souvenirs etc. by forming photo-like patterns on acrylic, but the problem of the cost of laser equipment and the work piece is also made once, the same as acrylic glass for buildings etc. There is a problem that is not suitable for mass-produced products such as those using a large amount of articles.

  Further, as disclosed in Patent Document 4, a method of performing sandblasting after erasing the masking material using laser light can obtain a fine pattern on the glass surface with low workability. It is impossible to process small irregularities, and there is a problem that the processing becomes rough in fine parts, and because it is processed directly on the work piece, it is good for one-piece products and souvenirs, but the surface of the building window glass There is a problem that it is too expensive to perform the same processing on a large number of articles such as decoration.

  This invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and can accurately and accurately reproduce photographs, paintings, and other precise patterns and designs on the surface of transparent materials such as acrylic glass at low cost. The present invention provides a pattern forming method that can add the same pattern.

  In order to solve the above problems, the invention of claim 1 is a method of forming a pattern on the surface of a transparent material, the step of applying a first copper plating layer to the roller surface, and the first copper plating layer. On the other hand, a process of engraving a predetermined pattern with an engraving machine, a process of applying a second copper plating layer after applying a release agent to the surface of the first copper plating layer, and peeling off the upper second copper plating layer A method of forming a pattern on a transparent material, comprising: obtaining a copper plated sheet; and overlaying the copper plated sheet on a thermoplastic transparent resin to form a predetermined pattern on the surface of the transparent resin by thermal transfer. It is.

  The invention of claim 2 employs a configuration in which acrylic resin is used as the transparent resin having thermoplasticity in the pattern forming method for the transparent material according to claim 1.

  The invention of claim 3 is a method of forming a pattern on the surface of a transparent material, the step of applying a first copper plating layer on the roller surface, and a predetermined pattern on the first copper plating layer by an engraving machine. A step of engraving, a step of applying a second copper plating layer after applying a release agent to the surface of the first copper plating layer, a step of peeling off the upper second copper plating layer, and obtaining a copper plating sheet; A transparent material comprising a step of superposing the copper plated sheet on a thermoplastic transparent resin sheet and forming a predetermined pattern on the surface of the transparent resin sheet by thermal transfer, and a step of attaching the transparent resin sheet to the transparent material. This is a pattern forming method.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the step of forming the predetermined pattern on the surface of the transparent resin sheet by the thermal transfer in the pattern forming method to the transparent material according to the third aspect, the surface on which the predetermined pattern of the copper plating sheet is transferred A roll is formed on the outside, and a configuration is adopted in which a predetermined pattern is thermally transferred by rolling on a transparent resin sheet while the roll is heated.

  The invention of claim 5 employs a configuration in which the transparent resin sheet in the method for forming a pattern on the transparent material according to claim 3 or 4 is a polycarbonate sheet.

  The invention of claim 6 is a transparent material on which a pattern is formed by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

  As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, since the pattern of the thermal transfer mold is performed by mechanical engraving on the roller, precise and fine pattern irregularities can be obtained with good reproducibility. With the control of the mold, the obtained mold has high accuracy, and the surface of the thermoplastic transparent resin on which a predetermined pattern is transferred and molded by thermal transfer using this mold is depicted in micron units. Fine expressions such as photographs and paintings are possible.

  Further, the size of the copper plating sheet made of the second copper plating layer used for the thermal transfer is a rectangular mold composed of the size of the roller, that is, the length in the length direction of the roller and the outer circumference of the waist of the roller. Since it can be obtained, it can be easily accommodated by increasing the size of the roller as the size of the place where the transparent material is applied is increased, making it a transparent material for large windows, showcases, doors and large signboards. A pattern can be easily transferred even with a large mold that is difficult in cost by a conventional etching method or the like, such as a mold for forming a pattern.

  In addition, since the unevenness of local accuracy of the pattern does not occur unlike a mold using an etching method, high accuracy of the pattern can be maintained even when the size is increased.

  Also, because the pattern is given by thermal transfer using a mold, the same pattern can be given to a large number of products, so windows with delicate and precise photographs and paintings equivalent to those using conventional lasers are drawn. And doors can be mass-produced at a low cost while maintaining the same quality of transparent materials with the same pattern that could not be obtained by conventional methods using laser light or sandblasting.

  Further, since the second copper plating layer is used as a thermal transfer mold, the second copper plating layer is repeatedly plated again on the first copper plating layer after the second copper plating layer is removed. As a result, the same mold could be created semi-permanently, and mass production of articles with the same pattern became possible.

  According to invention of Claim 2, if it uses for the acrylic glass currently used extensively as a transparent material, the use spreads infinitely from the ease of thermal transfer of acrylic glass and the breadth of its application range, for example Acrylic glass for aquariums with a pattern of several tens of centimeters in thickness can be obtained by laminating several other acrylic glasses on a patterned acrylic glass and bonding them together.

  According to the invention of claim 3, after a predetermined pattern is formed on the surface of the transparent resin sheet by thermal transfer on the transparent resin sheet having thermoplasticity, the transparent resin sheet is attached to the transparent material, thereby transferring the thermal transfer Even ordinary glass with silicon oxide as the main component and a transparent material with a high melting point, which can not be processed, can be delicately patterned like a photograph.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the transparent resin sheet having thermoplasticity can melt the surface in a relatively short time as compared with the acrylic sheet, so that the predetermined copper plated sheet can be obtained. Form a roll with the pattern-transferred surface outside, and roll the transparent resin sheet with the roll heated to form a transparent resin sheet pattern. Can do.

  As in the invention of claim 5, polycarbonate is an optimal material from the viewpoint of thermal transferability, cost and processability because of its low melting point and ease of processing as a transparent resin sheet having thermoplasticity.

  According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, the method according to the first to fifth aspects provides a transparent material having a precise pattern such as a photograph appearing on the surface at a low cost, and can be applied to various uses.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7.

[Mold forming method]
First, FIG. 1 shows a roller 1 used in the present invention, which is the same as a printing roller used for gravure printing or the like. The roller radius R is arbitrary depending on the size of the thermal transfer mold to be manufactured.

  Next, as shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a first copper plating layer 2 having a thickness of about 100 to 150 μm and a Bickus hardness of about 230 to 260 is applied to the entire surface of the roller 1.

  The thickness and hardness of the first copper plating layer 2 are adjusted by appropriately adjusting chemicals (hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, additives) used for plating, temperature, liquid temperature, current, roller rotation, and the like.

  For the roller 1 with the first copper plating layer 2 applied to the surface, the copper surface is polished to give a mirror finish without irregularities.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 2 (C), the surface of the first copper plating layer 2 that is mirror-finished by an engraving machine that performs engraving using a needle 3 made of a hard material such as diamond, The recess 4 is formed by engraving a predetermined pattern.

  Examples of the engraving machine used here include a product name Barcus engraving machine manufactured by Dainippon Screen Co., Ltd., a product name Helio manufactured by Heidelberg, and an engraving machine manufactured by Ohio USA.

  Engraving excavates the roller surface with the needle 3 of the engraving machine while rotating the roller. The engraving machine needle moves back and forth and the rotation of the roller is controlled by a pre-programmed pattern. Then, a groove or a hole-like recess 4 having a desired depth and length is formed on the surface of the first copper plating layer 2.

  The shape of the recess 4 can be excavated in various shapes according to the target pattern, such as a hole shape, a groove shape, a dot shape, a trapezoidal shape, and a curved surface shape, but the depth is usually about 20 μm. It is possible to dig up to about 60 μm.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (D), after applying a release agent to the surface of the first copper plating layer 2 of the roller in which the recesses 4 having a predetermined pattern are formed, a metal film such as chromium or nickel having a thickness of about 12 μm. 5 is applied to the surface.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 2E, a second copper plating layer 6 is applied by copper plating on the metal film 5 on the surface of the first copper plating layer 3.

  The thickness of the second copper plating layer 6 is arbitrary, but if it is too thick, there is a possibility that the subsequent peeling operation or the like may be hindered.

  Since the surface of the second copper plating layer 6 is slightly concave in the portion of the first copper plating layer 2 where the recesses 4 are formed, the surface is polished again to give a mirror finish without irregularities.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (F), when the second copper plating layer 6 which is the upper layer is peeled off together with the metal film 5 after the plating is completed, the second copper plating layer 6 becomes the first copper plating layer inside. The recessed portion 4 carved into the 2 becomes a copper plated sheet 8 formed by being transferred to the protruding portion 7.

  If the operations shown in FIGS. 2D to 2F are repeated on the first plating layer 2 of the roller 1 after the second copper plating layer 6 is peeled off, the copper plating having the same pattern and accuracy can be obtained. Sheets 8 can be produced in large quantities.

  In the above manufacturing method, since the excavation of the concave portion 4 shown in FIG. 2C is a mechanical excavation by the diamond needle 3 of the engraving machine, fine engraving with an accuracy of several μm can be performed. For example, FIG. As shown in FIG. 3 (B), as shown in FIG. 3 (B), as shown in FIG. 3 (B), if the concave and convex portions 4 are finely formed on the surface of the first copper plating layer 2 with the diamond needle 3 as shown in FIG. A fine irregular surface is also formed on the convex portion 7 of the obtained copper plating sheet 8.

  In addition, the recess 4 formed in the first copper plating layer 2 is not limited to a rectangular cross section as in the case of etching, and the angle or depth can be changed by appropriately changing the engraving pattern of the engraving machine. The shape can be freely changed.

[Transfer Method 1]
Next, as shown in FIG. 4 (A), the surface of the copper plating sheet 8 obtained by peeling off the second layer of copper plating 6 on the side opposite to the side on which the convex portions 7 are transferred, such as aluminum 9 or the like. A metal plate with good thermal conductivity is attached.

  The laminated body of the copper plating sheet 8 and the aluminum plate 9 is heated to about 240 ° C., which is the melting point of acrylic glass, and the copper plating sheet 8 is pressed against the acrylic glass 10.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, the surface of the acrylic glass 10 touching the heated copper plating sheet 8 is melted, and the convex portion 7 of the copper plating sheet 8 is transferred to the surface of the acrylic glass 10 to form a concave portion. A pattern is formed.

  If the copper plating sheet 8 is peeled off from the acrylic glass 10 after the thermal transfer is finished, a concave portion 11 corresponding to the convex portion 7 of the copper plating sheet 8 is formed on the surface of the acrylic glass 10. It becomes the same arrangement and size as the concave portion 4 formed on the surface of the first copper plating layer 2 by the diamond needle 3.

[Transfer method 2]
Next, another embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 5 (A), the convex portion 7 is formed by removing the copper plated sheet 8 from which the second copper plated layer 6 obtained in FIG. With the surface having the outer side facing out, it is wound around the outer periphery of another roll body 12 and rounded to form a roll.

  Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 5B, the roll body 12 is heated and rolled onto a sheet-like polycarbonate sheet 13 having a thickness of about 0.3 to 0.5 mm. The concave portion 7 is transferred onto the polycarbonate sheet 13.

  For a relatively thin sheet having a low melting point, such as a polycarbonate sheet 13, the surface is also obtained by heating the copper plated sheet 8 together with the roll body 12 and rolling it on the workpiece. The polycarbonate sheet 13 on which the pattern has been transferred is formed with a pattern composed of the concave portions 14 corresponding to the convex portions 7.

  If the polycarbonate sheet 13 on which the pattern is formed is attached to a transparent material 15 (regardless of a material such as glass or acrylic glass containing silicon oxide as a main component) as shown in FIG. The pattern transcribed on the polycarbonate sheet 13 is obtained.

[Example of transparent material]
FIG. 6 (A) is a photograph transferred to the acrylic glass 10 obtained by using the copper plated sheet 8, and the portion of the convex portion 7 of the copper plated sheet 8 is transferred as the concave portion 11 to the acrylic glass 10. Therefore, as a result, the pattern composed of the recesses 4 created by the diamond needle 3 is reproduced on the surface of the acrylic glass 10.

  According to the acrylic glass 10 of this example, the shape and arrangement of the recesses 11 are arranged, for example, in such a way that the circular recesses 11 are regularly arranged in a lattice shape as shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 6B. If the thickness is proportional to the shading in a black and white photograph, a pattern in which a large number of recesses 11 of various sizes and depths are arranged side by side is shown in FIG. ), The same visibility as a photograph can be obtained.

  The size and depth of each concave portion 11 are determined by determining the size and depth of each concave portion 11 from the image density of dots arranged in a grid by taking a photograph into a personal computer. This may be reflected in the engraving work of the recess 4 in FIG.

  Control of the size and depth of the recesses 11 or the precision of the shape of the recesses cannot be obtained by the etching method or the sand blast method. On the other hand, the method of this embodiment is suitable for mass production, and is suitable for forming a precise pattern such as the same photograph or painting on the interior of a building, a partition plate, a door or the like.

  Further, in this method, the shade of the photograph is expressed by the size and depth of the circular recess 11, but the shade expression is not limited to this, and a known process such as dithering is performed on various computers that have taken the photograph. The engraving work may be performed by appropriately determining the shape and size of the recess 4 with respect to the first copper plating layer 2.

  Further, according to the method, the depth of the recess is not limited as in the case of etching or sand blasting, and if the thickness of the first copper plating layer 2 is sufficiently large, the diamond needle 3 allows the first The deep recessed part 4 can also be obtained by grinding the copper plating layer 2 deeply.

  As shown in FIG. 7, if the deep recessed part 4 is formed with respect to the 1st copper plating layer 2, the acrylic glass 10 from which the recessed part 11 became more three-dimensional can be obtained.

  In addition, if a sealed space is provided with a transparent material with the surface on which the photographic pattern is formed by the method of the present invention inside, and a plasma is generated inside, a photographic pattern with color added to the space will emerge. In this way, a novel decoration effect can be obtained.

  Further, in the above-described method, only the concave portion 11 is formed on the transparent resin that is a transparent material and the concave portion 15 is formed on the transparent resin sheet, and only the concave portion is expressed with respect to the convex portion 7 of the copper plating sheet 8 that is a thermal transfer mold. However, by forming the copper plating sheet 8 on which the convex portions 7 are formed into a roll shape and overlaying the copper plating on the upper portion, a die having a predetermined pattern formed by the concave portions can be obtained. For example, it is possible to obtain a transparent material in which a pattern by the convex portion expression is formed by thermal transfer.

It is a perspective view of the roller utilized with the manufacturing method of this invention. (A)-(F) are principal part expanded sectional views which show the pattern formation method of this invention. (A) is a partial expanded sectional view at the time of forming a recessed part in the 1st copper plating layer of a roller, (B) is a partially expanded sectional view of the copper plating sheet in which the recessed part was transcribe | transferred. (A)-(C) are sectional drawings which show the pattern formation method of this invention. (A)-(C) are explanatory drawings which show the other pattern formation method of this invention. It is the acrylic glass in which the pattern was formed by this invention, (A) is a front view, (B) is a partially enlarged view. It is a perspective view of the acrylic glass of the other example in which the pattern was formed by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Roller 2 1st copper plating layer 3 Diamond needle 4 Concave 5 Metal film 6 2nd copper plating layer 7 Convex part 8 Copper plating sheet 9 Aluminum plate 10 Acrylic glass 11 Concave part 12 Roll body 13 Polycarbonate sheet 14 Concave part 15 Transparent Material

Claims (6)

  A method of forming a pattern on the surface of a transparent material, the step of applying a first copper plating layer to the roller surface, the step of engraving a predetermined pattern on the first copper plating layer by an engraving machine, A step of applying a second copper plating layer after applying a release agent to the surface of the copper plating layer, a step of removing the second copper plating layer as an upper layer to obtain a copper plating sheet, and heating the copper plating sheet A method of forming a pattern on a transparent material, comprising a step of forming a predetermined pattern on the surface of the transparent resin by thermal transfer on a transparent resin having plasticity.   The method for forming a pattern on a transparent material according to claim 1, wherein the transparent resin having thermoplasticity is acrylic glass.   A method of forming a pattern on the surface of a transparent material, the step of applying a first copper plating layer to the roller surface, the step of engraving a predetermined pattern on the first copper plating layer by an engraving machine, A step of applying a second copper plating layer after applying a release agent to the surface of the copper plating layer, a step of removing the second copper plating layer as an upper layer to obtain a copper plating sheet, and heating the copper plating sheet A method for forming a pattern on a transparent material, comprising: a step of forming a predetermined pattern on the surface of a transparent resin sheet by thermal transfer on a transparent resin sheet having plasticity; and a step of attaching the transparent resin sheet to a transparent material.   In the step of forming the predetermined pattern on the surface of the transparent resin sheet by the thermal transfer, a roll is formed with the surface on which the predetermined pattern of the copper plating sheet is transferred outward, and the roll is heated and the upper surface of the transparent resin sheet is heated. The method of forming a pattern on a transparent material according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined pattern is thermally transferred by rolling.   The method for forming a pattern on a transparent material according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the transparent resin sheet is a polycarbonate sheet.   A transparent material having a pattern formed by the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

Images