JPH0413860A - External member of aluminum, etc., with coating film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To exhibit such characteristics as high hardness proper to a coating film formed on a substrate by PVD, in spite of low hardness of the substrate, by forming a middle layer on the substrate of Al, etc., and then forming the coating film. CONSTITUTION:A middle layer 2 is formed on a substrate 1 of Al or other metal having such properties as a low m.p., low hardness and corrosion resistance, and a coating film 3 having high hardness and corrosion resistance is formed on the middle layer 2 by PVD. The substrate 1 may be made of resin. The coating film 3 is made of a substance selected among hard compds., oxides, metals, etc., according to the purpose such as decoration. The middle layer 2 is chiefly a paint layer, has higher hardness than the substrate 1 and enhances the characteristics of the coating film 3.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Industrial Application] This invention is applicable to caps, labels, bodies, etc. of lipsticks, makeup skin products, shampoo containers, necklaces/brooches, food/medicine containers, etc., and base materials. This product relates to an exterior product whose surface is covered with a coating for decoration or display purposes.

[Conventional technology]

The above-mentioned exterior products are formed by dry means, so there is less problem of pollution during formation, so a coating is applied to the surface of the base material by physical evaporation deposition method (hereinafter also referred to as PVD). It is being formed.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

When the base material is made of a highly hard material such as titanium or stainless steel, the PVD film exhibits its high hardness to its fullest, making it difficult for the surface to be scratched when the exterior product is used. It is preferable because a beautiful appearance can be maintained for a long period of time.

However, aluminum is often used as a base material for the above-mentioned exterior products because of its good workability, low cost, and light weight. However, since aluminum has a low hardness, even if a PVD film is formed on its surface, the inherent high hardness of the PVD film cannot be fully demonstrated.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems (technical problems) of the prior art described above. The object of the present invention is to provide an exterior product such as aluminum with a L7 coating so that even if the hardness of the base material is low, the inherent high hardness of the PVD coating can be exhibited.

[Means to solve problems]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the measures as described in the claims above, and its effects are as follows.

[Effect]

The intermediate film interposed between the base material and the coating is
Even if it has properties such as low corrosion resistance, it helps the film formed by PVD to exhibit its features such as high hardness and high corrosion resistance.

Therefore, the hardness and corrosion resistance of the entire coating on the base material are improved.

〔Example" The drawings showing the embodiments of the present application will be described below.

FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of a part of an exterior product such as coated aluminum. In this FIG. 1, 1 is a base material, -
For example, 1 is made of aluminum, and in addition,
It may also be made of metals such as copper, zinc, lead, tin, silver, and gold. It may also be an alloy containing one or more types of metals. Furthermore, not only metals but also plastics and resins such as ABS and polypropylene can be used. All of these have low melting points (660°C in the case of aluminum) and low hardness (Hv (5g
) (Vickers hardness at 5 g load)・30~70
), low corrosion resistance, etc., and in this example, these materials are collectively referred to as aluminum or the like. 2 is an intermediate film formed on the second part of the base material 1 to support the coating, and the base material I also has a high hardness, for example, Hv (
5g:1=100-500. The intermediate film 2 is, for example, a paint film. ” Biped paints can be selected from many types depending on the target properties, but P
Heat required during VD processing (e.g. 70'C to 350°C)
, in the vacuum atmosphere of PVD (e.g. from lXl0-2 to I
For example, alkyd resin paint, thermosetting acrylic resin paint, epoxy/silicone resin paint, silicone resin paint, epoxy Resin paints, fluororesin paints, etc. are used. As the intermediate film 2, an oxide film may be used in addition to the paint film. 3 is a decorative film formed on the intermediate film 2, which is made of PVD.
is formed by. The coating 3 may be used for display as well as decoration, but in this specification they are collectively referred to as decorative. The material of the coating 3 has high hardness, corrosion resistance,
The type is selected from the examples below depending on the purpose such as decorativeness.

Hard compound: 1' i N titanium nitride --- 1 ---
---Gold, ZrN Zirconium Nitride ---
- Golden Ti (, N Titanium carbon nitride ---
-----------Brown or gray TiAIN Titanium nitride - Aluminum - Dark brown TiC Titanium carbide Gray or black CrN Chromium nitride Metal color oxide: Al2O5 Aluminum oxide For exterior parts with the above structure, PVD is used. The formed coating 3 has a beautiful appearance. Moreover, the coating 3 and the base material l
Since the intermediate film 2 is interposed between the substrate 1 and the base material 1, even if the base material 1 has properties such as low hardness and low corrosion resistance as described above, the intermediate film 2 does not affect the coating 3 formed by PVD on the surface. Features: High hardness (e.g. Hv (5g) ~1000~2500)
This helps in exhibiting high corrosion resistance, and the performance of the entire coating on the base material 1, such as hardness and corrosion resistance, is high.

FIG. 2 then schematically shows an apparatus for forming a coating 3 as described above. This apparatus is a film forming apparatus similar to a known film forming apparatus (for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 61-177365) using PVD such as ion blasting or sputtering. To briefly explain its configuration,
10 is a reaction chamber with an internal vacuum exhaust and a gas supply source 11.
Atmosphere gases such as argon gas and nitrogen gas can be supplied from 12, respectively. Inside the reaction chamber 10, a holder for holding the base material I holds the base material 1 with reference numeral 13.
It is equipped so that it can be moved in a circular trajectory as shown in . Reference numerals 14 and 15 denote targets used for forming the coating 3, which are arranged in pairs with a part of the locus 13 interposed therebetween. These targets are made of materials depending on the type of film 3 to be formed.

Next, as an example of the base material 1, a coating is formed on a cylindrical aluminum lipstick case in steps (a) to (i).
I will explain in this order.

(a) The base material 1 is degreased and cleaned with a degreasing solution containing sodium hydroxide or sulfuric acid, then washed with water and dried.

(b) Next, one or more layers of acrylic resin paint are applied to the surface of the base material 1 to a total thickness of about 15 microns, and dried by infrared rays.

(c) Further, one or more layers of ultraviolet curable paint (for example, urethane acrylate paint) are applied to a total thickness of about 15 microns, and ultraviolet rays are irradiated. These (b),
The intermediate film 2 is formed by the step (c). After this, if the product is handled during transportation, storage, testing, etc., degrease and clean it as necessary.

(d) Next, the base material 1 is set in a holder provided in the apparatus shown in FIG. 2, and is moved along the trajectory 13.

(e) Next, the inside of the reaction chamber 10 is evacuated, and the base material 1 with the intermediate film 2 attached thereon is heated to about 70° C. using a heater in the furnace atmosphere.

(f) After that, 300 to 3503 CCM of argon gas is introduced into the reaction chamber 10 from the gas supply source 11, and 13.5 CCM of argon gas is introduced into the reaction chamber 10.
611z has a high frequency (RF
) is applied between the base material 1 and the reaction chamber 10 to perform high-frequency etching (surface cleaning treatment) on the surface of the intermediate film 2. After this, if necessary, add only argon gas to 300 ml to prevent overheating.
~3503 CCM is introduced and cooled by orbiting with IPPM.

(g) Next, nitrogen gas is introduced into the reaction chamber 10 from the gas supply source 12, and a target 14 made of zirconium,
15 is sputtered to deposit zirconium nitride (ZrN) (7) on the intermediate film 2 on the base material 1.
3. Form a film to a thickness of, for example, 0.2 μm. An example of the operating conditions of the device is as follows. Cathode discharge current is 4A/target, substrate bias is RF 100~5
(IOW, argon gas is 180 SCCM, nitrogen gas is 10 to 40 SCCM, base material revolution speed is IRPM, and total rotational speed is 5 to 20 revolutions.

(h) Next, 300 to 3503 CCM of argon gas is introduced into the reaction chamber 10 from the gas supply source 11, and the item (exterior item) on which the coating 3 has been formed is placed in the Il? Cool the item by turning it 30 times from step 5 on the PM.

(i) Next, the pressure in the reaction chamber 10 is restored and the product is taken out.

The entire process of forming the coating 3 is thus completed.

When the coating 3 is formed in the process described above, the intermediate film 2 covers the active and soft surface of the aluminum substrate 1 after cleaning, so that it can be protected during transportation or handling until the next P■D treatment. Prevents contamination and scratches inside. Further, when the intermediate film 2 covers the surface of the base material 1, it hides minute scratches and the like on the surface of the base material 1 and improves the surface smoothness. As a result, the product after the completion of the PVD coating 3 has good surface gloss, bright color tone, and stain resistance against fingerprints and oil.

The product produced by the above method has a golden color with good decoration and display properties, and also has hardness, abrasion resistance, scratch resistance, corrosion resistance, etc.

The thickness of the intermediate film 2 is 200 mm depending on the target characteristics.
It is selected within the range of μm or less. If it is too thick, deformation or deterioration due to the heat of the PVD treatment or film formation failure due to gas release in a vacuum atmosphere is likely to occur.

The minimum thickness is determined by the effect of hiding scratches on the base material 1 and the coating 3.
The material should be selected within a range that allows it to exhibit its inherent high hardness and corrosion resistance.

The thickness of the coating 3 is selected, for example, within a range of 3 μm or less. By selecting the temperature within this range, it is possible to prevent the adverse effects caused by the cumulative processing temperature. Also, if the thickness exceeds the above range, the crystal structure of the film in the thickness direction changes and peels off (the film falls off).
However, it is possible to prevent this from occurring, and the ease with which dirt adheres due to the increase in surface irregularities increases.

Next, different embodiments will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, a second intermediate film 5 may be formed between the intermediate film 2 and the coating 3. The second intermediate film 5 is, for example, a film of chromium nitride, and is formed between the steps (f) and (g) using, for example, the above-mentioned apparatus. In this case, one of the targets 14 and 15, for example, a chromium target is used as the target 14. After the step (f), the chromium target 14 is sputtered while the temperature of the base material 1 provided with the intermediate film 2 is kept at a relatively low temperature (for example, about 70 to 200° C.),
A second intermediate film 5 is formed on the intermediate film 2 to a thickness of, for example, 0.5 μm. An example of the operating conditions of the device is as follows. Cathode discharge current is 4A/target, substrate bias is RF 100~5. OOW, argon gas is 18
0 SCCM, nitrogen x gas is 10 to 5 osccL, the revolution speed of the base material 1 is IPPM, and the total number of revolutions is 5 to 20 revolutions.

Thereafter, if necessary, 300 to 3503 CCM of argon gas alone is introduced to prevent overheating, and the tube is cooled by rotating with IPPM.

After the formation of the second intermediate film 5 as described above is completed, the step (g) is carried out by sputtering a target 15 made of zirconium.

When the second interstitial membrane 5 is formed as described above, the influence of heat on the intermediate membrane 2 when forming the coating 3 thereon can be alleviated.

The material of the second intermediate film 5 may be titanium, zirconium, aluminum, or one of these in addition to the chromium nitride described above.
It may be an alloy containing more than one type, or a nitride, carbide, or carbonitride of the above metals or alloys. Further, the second intermediate film 5 may be formed by a vacuum evaporation method or a wet plating method in addition to the above-mentioned PVD.

Next, other different embodiments will be described. As shown in FIG. 4, a protective film 6 may be formed on the coating 3.

This protective film 6 is, for example, a film of transparent paint applied on the coating 3, and the formation of such a protective film 6 is also called hard coat finishing. The formation of the protective film 6 is performed in the step (i)
) Then, for example, one or more layers of an ultraviolet curable paint (for example, urethane acrylate paint) are applied to the coating 3 to a total thickness of about 10 to 30 microns, and the coating is dried by ultraviolet irradiation.

By applying the above-mentioned protective film 6, it is possible to increase the surface gloss, prevent the adhesion of stains due to fingerprints, etc., protect against corrosion against specific chemicals, or protect against scratches (improve scratch resistance and hardness). As the protective film 6, a transparent silicone resin paint can also be used.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, in the present invention, since the surface of the base material 1 is covered with the decorative coating 3, it has an extremely beautiful appearance when viewed with the naked eye.

Moreover, even if the base material 1 is made of a material with low hardness such as aluminum, an intermediate film 2 having a higher hardness than the base material 1 is formed on the surface of the base material 1 to support the coating 3. Since the coating 3 is formed on the intermediate film 2 by the physical evaporation method, the coating 3 formed by the physical evaporation method has the characteristic of exhibiting the inherent high hardness. be. This is useful because, for example, the surface of the coating 3 is hard to be damaged during use, and the above-mentioned beautiful appearance can be maintained forever.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show an embodiment of the present application, and FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged sectional view of the exterior product, and FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a coating forming apparatus.
FIGS. 3 and 4 are partially enlarged sectional views showing different embodiments of the exterior product. ■... Base material, 2... Intermediate film, 3... Decorative coating.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. In coated aluminum exterior products where the surface of a base material made of aluminum or the like is covered with a decorative coating, the surface of the base material is coated with an intermediate layer of higher hardness than the base material to support the coating. 1. An exterior product such as coated aluminum, characterized in that a film is formed, and the film is formed on the intermediate film by a physical evaporation method. 2. A claim characterized in that a second intermediate film is formed on the intermediate film to prevent the influence of heat on the intermediate film during formation of the film, and a film is formed on the second intermediate film. 1
Exterior products such as coated aluminum as described. 3. The coated aluminum exterior product according to claim 1, wherein a protective film is formed on the coat.