RU2544714C2 - Method of making and installing labels - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: physics, signalling.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to identification of material resources and can be used to label electroconductive articles. The method of making and installing non-reproducible identification label on an electroconductive article includes applying an identification number, an information grid and a non-reproducible matrix, as well as combined input of the identification number and the non-reproducible matrix into a database. The non-reproducible matrix is formed in advance separately from the article on a nanofilm by random point-by-point evaporation of areas of the nanofilm to obtain perforations of different size and shape or obtaining bulging areas of the surface of different size and shape on the nanofilm during electric discharge treatment thereof, after which the nanofilm is placed on the article by pressure sintering.

EFFECT: invention enables to obtain a non-reproducible identification label on an article, which enables to apply information and prevent forgery.

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Description

The invention relates to the field of identification of material resources and can be used for marking electrically conductive parts, such as rolled products, vehicle parts, mechanical engineering, aircraft, etc., coated with nanofilm.

A known method of identification [1], based on the assignment of a material resource identification number. However, this identification method is unreliable due to the possibility of falsification of at least one digit of the identification number.

A known method [2] of identification of solid materials by introducing particles into the material using a high-speed jet. However, this method is applicable only to relatively soft metal surfaces.

It is also known that to increase the hardness, wear resistance and other pre-programmed qualities of the metal surface, it is coated with a nanofilm.

As an analogue, the method of identification of metal products [3] was selected by applying an identification number, an information grid and an irreproducible matrix to it by performing discharges between the tag and the electrode and jointly entering the identification number and the irreproducible matrix into the database.

The disadvantages of the prototype include the fact that an electrical discharge is formed between the object (label). The trace of a spark arising on a metal surface has an unpredictable shape. This excellent quality guarantees the recognition of the object in expert identification mode, in which the expert compares the spots on the label (Figure 1) with the spots in the database. In Fig. 1, in addition to the electric discharge spots, a lot of interference is seen that is not related in any way to the electric discharge process.

When organizing an automated identification system, difficulties arise due to the complexity of contouring the electric discharge spot. Working with the image of the spot is always accompanied by mathematical difficulties, because of which it is difficult to form an objective database.

As an analogue, the method of applying an irreproducible identification mark [4] was chosen, in which the mark is divided into several sections, which allows some features of the process to be introduced into it. However, with this method, it is difficult to fit a plurality of plots per unit area. Due to the uncontrollability of the process, it becomes unpredictable and requires the protection of other areas with a dielectric stencil.

As a prototype, a method of manufacturing a one-piece identification tag [5] was selected by applying an identification number, an information grid and an irreproducible matrix to it by physically forming an irreproducible surface and jointly entering the identification number into the database. In this method, an individual matrix is formed by creating a conical step, which is filled with ultrafine (nanodispersed, particles less than 100 nm in size) powder, followed by sintering.

Note that this method is significantly more energy-intensive compared to using nanofilms. In the information sense, filling the entire conical step with ultrafine (nanodispersed) powder is unjustified, since information is entered into the database only from the mark surface. All other layers of nanopowders are informationally infertile, but energy must be spent on their sintering. The application of nanofilms on a product is interesting in itself, because it allows you to repeatedly increase hardness, wear resistance and a number of other parameters. The combination of these advantages with the simultaneous formation of an irreproducible surface is technologically justified. With this approach, there is no number of technological operations associated with the formation of a conical ledge.

The proposed method for the manufacture and installation of an irreproducible identification mark on an electrically conductive product includes applying an identification number, an information grid and an irreproducible matrix, as well as jointly entering an identification number and an irreproducible matrix into a database, while the irreproducible matrix is preliminarily formed separately from the product on a nanofilm by stochastic flashwise evaporation sections of the nanofilm to obtain perforations of different sizes and shapes, or to obtain convex portions at its discharge surface treatment of various sizes and shapes on nanofilm then nanofilm applied to the article by sintering under pressure.

The method uses a nanofilm obtained by applying layers atomically, or a nanofilm formed by sputtering from various materials and alloys.

The proposed method for manufacturing an identification tag is carried out by applying an identification number, an information grid and an irreproducible matrix to it by physical action. It can be realized by performing discharges between the mark and the electrode, by pulsed laser spraying, by the plasma method, by the method of evaporation and condensation, by the method of primary emission for implantation of electrons, atoms, ions and individual clusters of nanoparticles and by jointly entering the identification number and irreproducible matrix into the database .

A feature of the proposed method lies in the fact that the non-reproducible matrix is preliminarily formed separately from the product on the nanofilm by stochastic flashwise evaporation of the nanofilm sections or by introducing features (different from the general surface condition) into it, followed by the installation of the nanofilm on the product by sintering under pressure.

With this approach, an electric discharge forms individual holes on the nanofilm by stochastic pointwise evaporation of the nanofilm sections. The option of introducing into it protruding (different from the general state of the surface) features is provided. When scanning through the lumen of such a treated nanofilm (Figure 2), the contours of the spot from the electric discharge process are clearly visible and all uncertainties, all interference during the formation of the corresponding databases are removed.

Subsequently, the nanofilm, which received the properties of the nanobar, is installed according to the known method on the product. There are many known methods of applying nanofilms that require matching the properties of the film itself with the properties of the object itself.

Undesirable is the process of using a nanofilm that has received the properties of a nanobar on places subject to severe wear.

Figure 3 schematically shows the proposed installation for the formation on the nanofilm (side view) of all the signs of an identification mark.

The installation contains a high-voltage pin electrode 1 connected to a high-voltage source 2, 3 — an electric-discharge capacitor, 4 — a nanofilm, 5 — a protected object that is not directly involved in electric-discharge processing, and on which a nanofilm 4 with marking signs will subsequently be applied.

In FIG. 4 schematically depicts a nanofilm 4 (top view) having identification numbers 6, an information grid 7, and an irreproducible matrix 8 consisting of a set of evaporated points.

An example of the method 1. We used a nanofilm with a thickness of 100-110 nm. The electric gap between the point electrode and the nanofilm was maintained in the range from 15 to 20 mm. The voltage at the electrode is about 18-22 kV, discharge capacitors with capacities from 470 to 1000 pF. When electric discharges were realized on a nanofilm for 30-40 seconds, from 80 to 120 perforations of different sizes and different shapes were fixed on the nanofilm. The probability of falsification of such a film is almost equal to infinity.

An example of the method 2. We used a nanofilm with a thickness of 300-350 nanometers. The electric gap between the point electrode and the nanofilm was maintained in the range from 12 to 16 mm. The voltage on the electrode is about 14-16 kV, discharge capacitors with capacities from 200 to 470 pF. When electric discharges were realized on a nanofilm for 30-40 seconds, 60 to 80 convex electric-discharge spots of different sizes and shapes were fixed on the nanofilms. There was not enough energy to form perforations on a relatively thick nanofilm. The probability of falsification of such a film, as in the case of Example 1, is almost equal to infinity.

An example of the method 3. We used a solid-state laser with an energy of up to 10 J per pulse and a pulse duration in the range from 10 ^-3 to 10 ^-4 seconds. The future nanofilm was formed on a cooled substrate, which was located in a vacuum chamber equipped with an optically transparent window for laser radiation. The substrate was cooled by a flow-through heat exchanger. During the formation of nanofilms using laser spraying, a rich variety of surface effects was discovered, with which it is possible to form areas with the possibility of information recording. The film can be applied in layers atomically up to a thickness of up to X angstroms, which allows the formation of many different labels that can record the fulfillment of technological requirements for the product. The peculiarity of the deposition of atomic layers on a nanofilm is reduced to the technology of pulsed heating of the evaporated substrate and the need to evaporate the required number of atoms in a dosage of about 10 seconds, followed by atomic deposition of the layers on the nanofilm. For any slow, for example, ohmic heating of a substrate or heating by continuous laser radiation, atomic deposition of layers is excluded.

Claims 2 and 3 of the claims are described in detail in the following examples:

An example of the method 4. As a light source, an IFP-800 gas discharge lamp was used, installed with a small gap (3-5 mm) relative to the surface sintered from different nanopowders. The lamp is located directly in the vacuum chamber. At a pulse repetition rate of up to 10 Hz and a discharge energy of 800 J, pulse duration of the order of 10 ^-3 seconds, a regime with a brightness temperature of more than 25000 K is realized. Atoms, nanoparticles, clusters of nanoparticles evaporated from the surface form a nanofilm on the cooled substrate with unpredictable surface properties, allowing use it as a nano-tag with an unlimited number of information parts.

Execution of several sections with different informational parts on one nanotag allows tracking the entire technological process that the workpiece with the nanotag will pass.

The peculiarity of the formation of several regions with different information parts on a nanofilm is that the surface of the identification mark is divided into two parts: the unchanged part of the irreproducible picture is applied to one part containing identification number 6, and the second part, which forms a materially inseparable unity with the first part, They are divided into several sections in accordance with the number of technological processes that an identifiable part must go through. Each of these sections has its own digital code 9, by which it is possible to further determine the technological modes, team number, installation time and any other information. The authenticity of such information will be confirmed by a set of irreproducible matrix 8. The unchanged part of the irreproducible picture with digital code 6 and digital technological digital codes 9 have a single information grid 7.

Figure 5 shows the identification nanofilm 4, on the surface of which the main digital code 6 is applied, by which a part with this identification mark is searched in the database. The technological part of the identification nanoscale 4 is divided into several sections that have their own digital codes 9.

The application of the film in layers can be realized only in the mode of pulsed heating of the substrate (Fig.6). In FIG. 6 schematically shows the installation for pulse heating of the substrate 11. The installation contains the substrate 11 itself, made in the form of a hollow cylinder. A pulse gas discharge lamp 12 is installed inside the substrate with a small gap (2-3 mm), the electrodes of which are connected to a high-voltage pulse source 13. With a single flash of the lamp 12, the light flux enters the substrate 11, which is accompanied by pulsed evaporation of the thinnest layer of atoms that fall on the formed cooled identification mark 4. By changing the material of the substrate 11, it is possible to form an identification mark 4 from any material, including metals such as tungsten (tungsten carbide). By selecting the number of pulses and the discharge energy on the lamp 12, it is possible to increase layers atomically to the desired thickness of the mark 4, after which the metal seed of the future identification mark can be removed, for example, by the electrochemical method.

As you progress through the entire technological cycle, each workpiece contains the entire technological map, which helps to raise the technological discipline in production.

This method of entering information can be used in particularly important industries, for example, in the assembly of rocket engines, in the assembly of high-speed turbines (marking turbine blades), in the assembly of high-pressure circuits of industrial nuclear reactors and special-purpose chemical reactors, small arms, etc.

Information sources

1. Rules of the road. Entered into force on October 5, 1999 with amendments and additions of May 23, 2002. Appendix No. 6. Identification marks, p.96.

2. Patent of the Republic of Moldova No. 3390.

3. Patent of the Republic of Moldova No. 3389.

4. A method of applying an irreproducible identification mark to a part with an identification mark. Positive decision of the Russian Federation on application No. 2007119974.

5. The method of applying a non-removable identification tag Patent RM No. 3963.

Claims (3)

1. A method of manufacturing and installing an irreproducible identification tag on an electrically conductive product, comprising applying an identification number, an information grid and an irreproducible matrix to the product to co-enter the said number and an irreproducible matrix into the label identification database, characterized in that the irreproducible matrix is pre-formed separately from nanofilm products by stochastic pointwise evaporation of nanofilm sections to produce perforations of different times measure and shape or obtain convex surface sections of different sizes and shapes on the nanofilm during its electric discharge treatment, after which the nanofilm is applied to the product by sintering under pressure. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that they use a nanofilm obtained by applying layers atomically. 3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that they use a nanofilm formed by spraying from various materials and alloys.

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