JPS5816064A - External parts for timepieces - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make titled parts golden in color and low in cost and to improve the corrosion resistance and adhesive strength thereof by forming a Pd or Pd-Ni alloy underlying layer, a Ti intermediate layer and a TiN finish layer by an ion plating method. CONSTITUTION:Pd or a Pd alloy is formed as an underlying layer on base materials of external parts for timepieces, a Ti layer as an intermediate layer, and TiN as a finish layer by an ion plating method. Then the inexpensive formation of golden color external parts for timepieces without the use of costly gold plating is made possible and further the hard and abrasion resistant external parts which are not possible with general gold plating can be produced. If necessary, it is also possible to form the Pd or Pd-Ni alloy of the above- described underlying layer by a wet plating, sputtering or other method other than the ion plating method.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] The present invention relates to a case for a decorative exterior part of a watch or the like.

In order to improve gold-colored exterior parts, such as bands and buttons, etc., we applied palladium or palladium-nickel alloy as the base layer, titanium layer as the intermediate layer, and nitriding as the finishing layer using ion-blating technology on the exterior parts base material. The present invention relates to decorative exterior parts for watches, etc., which are made of titanium.

Traditionally, exterior parts for wristwatches have had strong decorative elements, so the appearance of the exterior parts tends to influence the value of the product. It was required that the quality of the device be strong enough to withstand long-term portable use. Therefore, exterior parts for watches must have excellent gloss and color tone in terms of appearance quality, and excellent corrosion and abrasion resistance in terms of materials, and sufficient attention must be paid to the base material and surface treatment. It's here. Among these exterior parts, products using gold-plated exterior parts are generally treated as high-class products, and therefore, these gold-plated exterior parts have been widely used.

However, since gold plating generally has high material cost and low hardness, there is a problem that the appearance quality deteriorates when used for a long period of time.

In recent years, the hard and corrosion-resistant yellow titanium nitride film formed by ion blating technology has attracted attention as a surface treatment film for exterior parts and as a new surface treatment technology to replace gold plating. Its use is expected to significantly reduce manufacturing costs, especially material costs.

This ion blating technology is a reactive ion blating method in which a gas introduced into a discharge plasma, which is an activation atmosphere, reacts with an evaporated gold layer to form a compound on a substrate under an electric field. , simple ion-blating methods in which metals, alloys, and nonmetals are field-deposited in a discharge plasma. Further, as methods for applying this electrolysis, a multi-cathode method and a method of applying high frequency are also known.

The titanium nitride film formed by the above-mentioned conventional reactive ion blating technology is generally hard and brittle, so it has poor adhesion to the substrate, and furthermore, the film formation rate is slow, making it difficult to form a thick film. < and when the corrosion resistance of the exterior parts of the board is poor, the corrosion resistance cannot be improved by using only a titanium nitride layer.The present invention proposes that the surface treatment film of the exterior parts be made of palladium or palladium-nickel alloy and titanium. By using five layers of titanium nitride, it has become possible to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a gold-colored watch exterior part that can be applied to the above-mentioned products at a low cost.

Hereinafter, the invention will be described in detail according to examples.

The figure shows an example of an ion brating device for providing the exterior part for a timepiece according to the present invention.

Using the ion brating device shown in FIG. 1, after evacuating the vacuum chamber 1 with the exhaust system 2, argon gas is introduced from the gas introduction system 5 to evacuate the vacuum chamber 1.
orr, the same power source applied +30 to +607 to the ionizing electrode 6, and -400 to -1 was applied to the substrate 5 made of a copper-based or zinc-based watch case made of brass or nickel silver.
After applying an electric field of 2007 by the power source X, the evaporation source 4,
Activate the same power source B to ion brate palladium or palladium-nickel alloy at a biofilm rate of 10 to 60X/se for 4 to 8 minutes to form a film of α1μ to 5μ, preferably about α25μ to 3μ. . Next, the evaporation source was changed and titanium was subjected to ion blating for 5 minutes at a biofilm rate of 20 to 40X/(6) to form a titanium film of 05μ to 2μ, preferably 06μ to 1.2μ. , by switching the pulp in the gas introduction system to nitrogen, 7 x 10”
α05
A titanium nitride of Hv=1200 with a thickness of μ to α5μ, preferably α06μ to 0.18μ was formed. As a result, the watch case has a bright golden color, withstands corrosion resistance tests of 24 hours of artificial sweat and artificial seawater immersion, and is
No peeling occurred even in a thermal cycle test in which the film was rapidly cooled from room temperature to room temperature and a 90° bending test.

In addition, since the surface hardness is Hma=1000 or more, no wear or scratches were observed even in practical mobile tests.

In the above example, the palladium or palladium-nickel alloy film was formed by the ion blating method, but this sublayer was formed by the widely used wet plating method. Form a film with a thickness of ~3μ or use a sputtering method to
By forming a film with a thickness of 1 to 1 μm and then forming titanium and titanium nitride, the same effect as in the first example can be obtained. Note that if the palladium-nickel alloy does not contain 40% or more of palladium by weight, it will not be able to maintain practical corrosion resistance.

As shown in the examples, it was possible to produce a product with excellent corrosion resistance and adhesion using the gold-colored exterior kudzu product of the present invention. The reason for this is that conventionally, to form a golden coating film, it was common practice to form a single layer of titanium nitride, or to form two layers of titanium nitride on top of titanium. However, unlike other decorative parts, exterior parts for watches are required to have higher corrosion resistance and adhesion. Therefore, by forming palladium or palladium-nickel alloy MttW as the underlayer, the following characteristics are improved.

■When copper alloy is used as the material for external parts, the above two layers alone cannot withstand a 24-hour corrosion resistance test in artificial sweat and seawater, so it is supplemented with palladium or rose gold underlay. I need to do it. ■When a soft metal such as brass is used, even if a film of titanium or titanium nitride is formed on the surface, if a strong external force is applied, the material itself will dent and cracks will occur. was there. Therefore, if the pot layer is formed as a base layer, it will have the effect of making it difficult for dents to occur due to external forces. In order to achieve this effect, the forging method uses hot plating to form a thick electrodeposited layer.

According to the present invention, it is possible to form a gold-colored case for the hour hand exterior part at a low cost without using expensive gold plating. i! We were able to create hard, wear-resistant exterior parts that were previously impossible to achieve.

1st v! J is a sectional view of an ion brating device for providing the exterior component of the present invention.

1... Vacuum chamber 4... Evaporation source 5... Board that's all Applicant: Kinsha Suwa Seikosha Co., Ltd. Agent Patent Attorney Mogami

Claims (1)

[Claims] (1) An exterior part for a watch, characterized in that palladium or a palladium-nickel alloy is formed as a base layer, a titanium layer as an intermediate layer, and titanium nitride as a finishing layer by an ion blating method. ■ Exterior part for a watch 0 characterized in that the base layer of palladium or palladium-nickel alloy described in claim 1 is formed by a wet plating method, a sputtering method, etc. other than the ion-blating method.