JPH0595810A - Accessories - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide accessories excellent in wear resistance and anti-collosion property having on its surface a covering layer with a color resembling extremely to gold. CONSTITUTION:A gold hard compound layer mainly composed of titanium nitride is formed on the surface of accessories and also a gold covering layer composed of gold chromium alloy having 0.05-5wt.% or less of chromium based on gold.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to accessories such as bracelets, necklaces, cufflinks, earrings and broaches.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The above-mentioned jewelry is required to have a color tone which is a decorative element and corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance which are functional elements at the same time, but gold has a unique beautiful color tone and is particularly excellent in corrosion resistance. Therefore, since ancient times, gold materials have been processed as they are, or a coating layer has been formed on the surface of another metal or resin by gold plating or gold plating. The thickness of the gold coating layer may be 0.1 μm or less from the viewpoint of exhibiting a gold color when corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance are not required so much. Since a high degree of corrosion resistance and wear resistance for long-term use are required, at least 3 μm, ideally 5 μm or more is required. However, gold is a very expensive metal, so there is a limit to using it for jewelry that requires a high degree of corrosion resistance and wear resistance, with the exception of some high-end products. There has been a demand for the development of a gold-colored coating layer that can be used.

Recently, a gold-colored hard coating mainly composed of titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, tantalum carbide, zircon nitride, hafnium nitride or the like is formed by physical vapor deposition (PVD) such as ion plating or sputtering or chemical vapor deposition (CVD). As a result, an inexpensive and functionally excellent gold coating layer has come into practical use.

[0004]

However, although these coating layers are gold-colored at first glance, they are clearly different from the color tone of gold itself and do not show the color tone specific to gold. Further, in the ion plating method, it is possible to coat a large area, and the coating layer mainly composed of titanium nitride can introduce carbon or oxygen to bring it closer to the color tone of gold, but the reflectance is still Has a low defect, resulting in a black sunk tone.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned jewelry, the color tone of gold and gold alloy is strongly preferred, and the gold-colored hard coating mainly composed of titanium nitride, tantalum nitride, tantalum carbide, zircon nitride, hafnium nitride and the like has corrosion resistance and corrosion resistance. Despite its excellent wear resistance, it has been limited in applicability to jewelry.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide at low cost an accessory that has a coating layer having excellent corrosion resistance and abrasion resistance and a color tone extremely close to that of gold.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention forms a gold-colored hard compound layer containing titanium nitride as a main component on the surface of an accessory, and further has a chromium content relative to gold on it. A gold coating layer made of a gold-chromium alloy is formed in an amount of 0.05% by weight or more and less than 5% by weight.

Here, it is important to use a gold-chromium alloy, and instead of the gold-chromium alloy, pure gold was deposited on the gold-colored hard compound layer mainly composed of titanium nitride by an ion plating method or the like. In this case, there is a problem in adhesion and wear resistance, and the addition of 0.05% by weight or more of chromium significantly improves the adhesion and wear resistance, and the color tone is almost the same as that of pure gold or gold alloy of 24 to 14K and is beautiful. It has a golden color. However, if chromium is added in an amount of 5% by weight or more, the whiteness becomes stronger and the color tone becomes different from that of gold, and the object cannot be achieved.

[0009]

Example 1 The present invention will be specifically described based on the following examples. The stainless steel bracelet is cleaned with organic solvent and placed in the ion plating device. After decompressing the inside of the ion plating device to 2 × 10 ^-5 Torr, introducing argon gas to a pressure of 2 × 10 ^-2 Torr, and applying a DC voltage of -500 V to the bracelet that is the object to be treated, the bombarding treatment is performed. To do. Next, titanium is evaporated by electron beam heating, and a titanium film is formed by ionizing with a thermionic emission filament and an ionization electrode in the ion plating device. Nitrogen gas is evaporated under a pressure of 5 × 10 ⁻⁴ Torr while titanium is evaporated. To form a titanium nitride film. Next, the gold-chromium alloy is evaporated by electron beam heating in the same apparatus, ionized by the thermionic emission filament and the ionization electrode, and
A gold coating layer of 1 μm gold-0.05 wt% chromium alloy is formed.

The bracelet thus obtained is
It has a beautiful color tone similar to that of gold, and since the gold-colored coating layer made of a gold-chromium alloy is extremely thin, the cost increase is minimal compared to conventional titanium nitride coatings, and it is inexpensive. It can be a bracelet. And
Since the gold coating layer is thin, the underlying layer may be exposed by abrasion, but the titanium nitride coating of the underlying layer is hard and has a color tone similar to gold, so even if it is locally exposed. Almost unnoticeable. Furthermore, by coating a gold-colored layer such as gold or gold alloy by wet plating on the gold-chromium alloy gold-colored coating layer, it is possible to provide an accessory that has a wide range of gold-colored tones. ..

[0011]

Example 2 A tie pin made of brass and plated with nickel and chromium is washed with an organic solvent and placed in an ion plating apparatus. Then, after performing a bombarding process as in Example 1, a titanium film is formed. Next, while evaporating titanium, 5 × 10 5 nitrogen gas is added.
^-4 Torr pressure is introduced to form a titanium nitride film, and then nitrogen gas and acetylene gas are supplied at a flow rate ratio of 99: 1.
To 5 × 10 ⁻⁴ Torr to form a titanium carbonitride film.
Then, in the same manner as in Example 1, a gold-colored coating layer of 0.2 μm of gold-4% by weight chromium alloy is formed. This gave a beautiful toned tie pin with a weak whitish golden color. This tie pin has a large amount of chromium in the gold-colored coating layer made of the gold-chromium alloy in the upper layer as compared with the bracelet of Example 1, so that it has high wear resistance and is hard to wear, but even if it is locally worn, As is the case with the bracelet of Example 1, the wear is not noticeable because the film is mainly composed of titanium nitride having a color tone similar to that of gold.

[0012]

Example 3 A necklace made of 18K gold alloy is washed with an organic solvent and placed in an ion plating apparatus. Then, the same bombarding treatment as in Example 1 was performed to evaporate titanium while maintaining the nitrogen gas at a pressure of 5 × 10 ⁻⁴ Torr,
It is ionized to form a titanium nitride film. Subsequently, a gold coating layer of 0.5 μm of gold-3 wt% chromium alloy is formed by the same method.

In the necklace thus obtained, the material and the covering layer have almost the same color tone, and the titanium nitride of the intermediate layer is hard, so that deep scratches are formed like those made of the conventional 18K material. There is no. Moreover, the surface gold-
Since the chromium coating layer of the chromium alloy is thin, it has only an advantage that only shallow scratches are formed and the scratches are not noticeable even in long-term use. Further, even if the coating layer is peeled off, it is hardly noticeable because the material has the same color tone as the coating layer. in this way,
It can be used not only for the surface of inexpensive materials, but also for improving the quality of gold or gold alloys.

In the above embodiments, the material is stainless steel, brass, or 18K gold alloy, but other than this, it can be applied to all metals or alloys such as copper alloy and aluminum alloy, and further heat resistance. If the above is taken into consideration, the same effect can be obtained even when applied to ceramics and plastics other than metal. Further, the gold-colored hard compound layer mainly composed of titanium nitride of the intermediate layer and the gold-colored coating layer of the surface gold-chromium alloy are not limited to the ion plating method,
It can also be formed by sputtering, vacuum deposition, CVD, or the like. Then, wet plating may be performed, a hard transparent film may be formed by PVD, or an organic film may be formed by painting or printing on the gold-colored coating layer of the gold-chromium alloy.

[0015]

As described above, according to the present invention, a gold-colored hard compound layer composed mainly of titanium nitride is formed on the surface of the accessory, and the amount of chromium is 0.05% by weight or more based on gold. Since a gold-colored coating layer made of a gold-chromium alloy of less than 5% by weight is formed, it is possible to inexpensively provide an accessory having excellent corrosion resistance and wear resistance, and a coating layer having a color tone extremely close to that of gold is formed on the surface. You can Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to exterior parts such as lighters, handbags, and wallets, which have strong elements as accessories.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Masumoto 1-15-4 Ueno Taito-ku, Tokyo Sailor Fountain Pen Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Seiji Sadahiro 1-15-4 Ueno Taito-ku, Tokyo Sailor -Fountain pen Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasushi Kawashita 3-135 Takatsukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo Shinko Seiki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Masahiro Tsuchimoto 3-chome, Takatsukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo No. 35 Shinko Seiki Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshihiko Amase 3-1, Takazukadai, Nishi-ku, Kobe-shi, Hyogo No. 35 Shinko Seiki Co., Ltd. (72) Hideo Nagamitsu 3-chome, Hatchobori 28, Chuo-ku, Tokyo No. 15 Hibiya Kagashi Building Tosei Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tetsuji Taniwaki 3-28-15 Hatchobori Chuo-ku, Tokyo Hibiya Kagashi Building Tosei Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Tsuneo Hara, Chuo-ku, Tokyo Hatchobori 3-chome 28th No. 15 Hibi valley riverside building east made by the Corporation

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A gold-colored hard compound layer containing titanium nitride as a main component is formed on the surface, and a gold-chromium alloy having a chromium content of 0.05% by weight or more and less than 5% by weight with respect to gold is further formed thereon. An accessory that has a gold coating layer formed thereon.