Patent Application
20120045621
1. Technical Field
The exemplary disclosure generally relates to coatings, and particularly relates to articles coated with the coatings and method for manufacturing the articles.
2. Description of Related Art
With the development of wireless communication and information processing technology, portable electronic devices, such as mobile telephones and electronic notebooks are now in widespread use. External appearance of the housing of the portable electronic device is one of the key factors for attracting consumers. However, typical housings can be easily marred by fingerprints.
Therefore, there is room for improvement within the art.
Many aspects of the embodiments can be better understood with reference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale, the emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the exemplary coating, article coated with the coating and method for manufacturing the article. Moreover, in the drawings like reference numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the several views. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements of an embodiment.
Referring to
The anti-fingerprint layer 13 includes an outer surface 131 and an opposite inner surface 132. The anti-fingerprint layer 13 comprises a plurality of nano scale concavities 133 in the outer surface 131 so that the outer surface 131 is alternately concave and convex. The concavities 133 may be used for accommodating air around the anti-fingerprint layer 13, to form a gaseous film on the outer surface 131. The gaseous film can prevent grease and/or dirt from attaching to the anti-fingerprint layer 13, providing good fingerprint resistance attribute to the anti-fingerprint layer 13. It is to be understood that the coating 10 may include a decorative color layer 11 deposited on the inner surface 132.
Referring to
Referring to
Step 1 is providing the substrate 20. The substrate 20 may be made of metallic materials, such as high speed steel, aluminum, aluminum alloy, copper, copper alloy or magnesium alloy. The substrate 20 also may be made of non-metallic materials, such as plastic, ceramic, glass, or polymer.
Step 2 is pretreating the substrate 20. Firstly, the substrate 20 is washed with a solution (e.g., alcohol or acetone) in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove, e.g., grease, dirt, and/or impurities. Secondly, the substrate 20 is dried. Thirdly, the substrate 20 is retained on a rotating bracket 50 in a vacuum chamber 60 of a magnetron sputtering coating machine 100. The vacuum level of the vacuum chamber 60 is about 8.0×10−3 Pa, and pure argon is pumped into the vacuum chamber 60 at a flux of about 300 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sscm) to 500 sccm from a gas inlet 90 for about 2-8 minutes, which washes the substrate 20 to further remove the grease or dirt. Thus, a binding ability between the substrate 20 and the anti-fingerprint layer 13 is enhanced.
Step 3 is depositing the anti-fingerprint layer 13 on the substrate 20. The temperature in the vacuum chamber 60 is about 20˜300° C.; the speed of the rotating bracket 50 is about 1 to 3 revolutions per minute (rpm); nitrogen is pumped into the vacuum chamber 60 at a flux of about 10 sccm to about 300 sccm and an oxygen is pumped into the vacuum chamber 60 at a flux of about 10 sccm to about 100 sccm from the gas inlet 90; a zinc-aluminum composite alloy target 70 is evaporated; a bias voltage applied to the substrate 20 is in a range of −100 to −300 volts for about 20 to 60 min by depositing the anti-fingerprint layer 13 on the substrate 20. The zinc-aluminum composite alloy contains aluminum in a range of about 50 to about 95 wt %.
It is to be understood that the color layer 11 may be deposited on the anti-fingerprint layer 13, to improve the appearance of the article 30.
It is to be understood, however, that even through numerous characteristics and advantages of the exemplary disclosure have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the system and function of the disclosure, the disclosure is illustrative only, and changes may be made in detail, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the disclosure to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201010257391.7 | Aug 2010 | CN | national |
The present application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application (Attorney Docket No. US34384), entitled “COATING, ARTICLE COATED WITH COATING, AND METHOD FOR MANUFACTURING ARTICLE”, by Zhang et al. This application has the same assignee as the present application and has been concurrently filed herewith. The above-identified application is incorporated herein by reference.
