The present invention relates to a coating structure formed on a basis metal, a method for forming the coating structure, and a vehicle wheel having the coating structure.
A coating structure formed on an aluminum vehicle wheel generally includes a base layer formed by powder coating, a color layer applied on the base layer and a transparent clear layer further applied on the color layer. Since the coating structure is thin, a color of the base layer underlying the color layer can be seen from outside in addition to a color of the color layer. However, the coating structure, having a solid color without patterns over the whole area, is poor in design.
Patent Document 1 given below discloses a method of forming a base layer and a color layer on a basis metal of a vehicle wheel made of aluminum alloy, then removing the base layer and the color layer in a specific region by a laser to expose the basis metal, and then forming a clear layer over the whole area. According to the method mentioned above, a shining surface region in which the basis metal is exposed and a colored region having a color presented by the base layer and the color layer are mixed, and design can be improved by a contrast between the colored region and the shining surface region.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-29333
However, the vehicle wheel of the Patent Document 1 does not satisfy users' demands for enjoying subtle changes of tints and patterns.
To solve the problems mentioned above, one aspect of the present invention provides a coating structure including a plurality of layers laminated on a basis material, wherein a selected layer includes a recess or a missing portion in an outer surface thereof in a specific region, and a layer adjacent to the selected layer outside of the selected layer includes a protrusion filled in the recess or the missing portion in the specific region.
In a more specific aspect of the present invention, there is provided a coating structure including a base layer laminated on a basis metal, at least one layer of color layer laminated on the base layer and a clear layer as an outermost layer laminated on the color layer, wherein a selected layer of the base layer and the color layer includes recesses in an outer surface thereof in specific regions, and the color layer or the clear layer adjacent to the selected layer outside of the selected layer includes protrusions filled in the recesses in the specific regions.
In another more specific aspect of the present invention, there is provided a coating structure including a base layer laminated on a basis metal, at least one layer of color layer laminated on the base layer and a clear layer as an outermost layer laminated on the color layer, wherein a selected layer of the base layer and the color layer includes missing portions in specific regions and the color layer or the clear layer adjacent to the selected layer outside of the selected layer comprises protrusions filled in the missing portions in the specific regions.
According to the features mentioned above, a pattern can be drawn by the recesses and the protrusions in the specific regions, and the design can be improved.
Preferably, of the base layer and the at least one layer of color layer, two layers adjacent to each other present different colors, and one of the two layers adjacent to each other is provided as the selected layer.
According to the features mentioned above, the specific regions and the other regions have a different ratio of thicknesses of the layers that present different colors. Therefore, different tints of a similar color system can be presented, and the design can be further improved.
Preferably, the coating structure further includes a first color region and a second color region, wherein the first color region includes a plurality of the specific regions and the second color region does not include the specific region.
According to the features mentioned above, when seen closely, a pattern created by difference in tints between the specific regions and the other regions can be enjoyed in the first color region. When seen from a distance, a pattern created by difference in tints between the first color region and the second color region.
In a method for forming the coating structure, after laminating the selected layer, the recess or a missing portion is formed by irradiating laser on the selected layer in the specific regions, and the color layer or the clear layer is laminated thereafter.
According to the method mentioned above, recesses or missing portions having a variety of dimensions can be formed by the laser.
The coating structure may be formed on a design surface of a vehicle wheel.
According to the present invention, a pattern of a similar color system appears, and the design can be improved.
A first embodiment of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to the drawings.
As shown in
A pattern due to a change in tint is formed on the coating structure 10. Specifically, as shown in
In the second color region 10b shown in
As shown in
In the first color region 10a, the specific regions 10x are minute. When seen closely, difference in tints of the specific regions 10x and the other region 10y can be visually recognized. When seen from a distance, a color of the first color region 10a is visually recognized as a color obtained by mixing the colors of the regions 10x, 10y (first color+second color). In this way, a pattern of the first color regions 10a and the second color regions 10b having different tints in the similar color system can be enjoyed and a design of the vehicle wheel can be improved.
A method for forming the coating structure 10 is described below with reference to
As shown in
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Finally, as shown in
A coating structure actually formed in the method described above was cut and layer thicknesses in the specific region 10x (laser-irradiated portion) and the region 10y (non-laser-irradiated portion) adjacent to each other were measured using a micrograph, and the results shown in Table 1 were obtained.
The results of measurement confirm that a recess 12a of a base layer 12 formed by laser is fully filled with a protrusion 13a of a color layer 13 and that the layer thicknesses of the regions 10x and 10y are almost unchanged in spite of the forming of the recess 12a and a surface of the coating structure 10 is smooth.
Other embodiments of the present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to drawings. In the drawings, same reference numerals will be used to indicate features corresponding to those of the foregoing embodiments, and explanation thereof will be omitted.
In a second embodiment shown in
Also in the second embodiment mentioned above, since a thickness of the color layer 13 in the specific region 10x of the first color region 10a is different from a thickness of the other region 10y of the first color region 10a and the one in the second color region, the specific region 10x presents a color that belongs to a similar color system to but has different tint from those in the region 10y and the second color region 10b.
In a third embodiment shown in
In the first embodiment, the recess 12b may be formed in the base layer 12 by masking instead of by laser. In this step, after forming a first layer of the base layer 12, a second layer of the base layer is formed with the specific region masked.
In a fourth embodiment shown in
In a fifth embodiment shown in
The present invention can be applied to a coating structure having a plurality of color layers.
In a sixth embodiment shown in
In this embodiment, a recess 12a is formed in the base layer 12 by laser in a specific region 10x of a first color region 10a and a protrusion 13a to be filled in the recess 12a is formed in the inner color layer 13. In the specific region 10x, a ratio of a thickness of the base layer 12 and a thickness of the inner color layer 13 is different from those in the other region 10y and in the second color region.
In a seventh embodiment shown in
In an eighth embodiment shown in
In the embodiments shown in
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above, and various embodiments can be adopted. For example, the coating structure may be composed only of the first color region 10a of the embodiments given above. Even in this case, a change in a tint between a specific region 10x and the other region 10y can be enjoyed.
In the first color region 10a, small specific regions 10x may be homogeneously dispersedly arranged or a density thereof may be varied. In the latter case, a gradational effect can be obtained, for example, by making a density of the specific regions 10x high in a middle portion of the first color region 10a and making the density lower toward a peripheral portion.
A plurality of the specific regions 10x are disposed in the first color region 10a in the embodiments mentioned above, an entirety of the first color region 10a may be provided as a specific region and a recess, a groove or a hole having a large area may be formed in a selected layer. In a case of a recess, a gradational effect may be obtained by making the recess deeper in a middle portion of the region and shallower toward a peripheral portion.
The coating structure may have three or more kinds of color regions. For example, the first and second color regions may be the same as those of the embodiments mentioned above and an entirety of a third color region may be provided as a specific region and a recess, a groove or a hole having a large area may be formed in a selected layer. In this way, an intricate pattern may be obtained in three or more kinds of color regions having different tints in a similar color system.
Similarly, when a coating structure has three or more kinds of color regions, besides the two color regions similar to those in
The coating structure may have a layer including a metallic flake besides the color layer between the base layer and the clear layer. The layer including the metallic flake is very thin compared with the other layers, having a thickness of not more than 1 micron. In a case where the layer including the metallic flake is laminated on a selected layer in which a recess or a hole may be formed, after forming the recess or the hole by laser irradiation, the layer including the metallic flake may be formed. In this case, the layer including the metallic flake is disposed between the recess or the hole and the protrusion. Alternatively, the recess or the hole may be formed by laser irradiation after forming the layer including the metallic flake in the selected layer. In this case, the layer including the metallic flake is not disposed between the recess or the hole and the protrusion.
When a multiple layers of color layers are disposed, only two layers of layer s adjacent to each other may present different colors, and one of the two layers of the layers may be provided as a selected layer and a recess, a groove or a hole may be formed in the selected layer.
In the first to the fourth embodiments, the base layer and the color layer may have a same color, black, for example. In this case, even with colors of a similar color system, boundaries between the recess, the groove or the hole and the protrusion appear as a pattern, and design can be improved.
Similarly, in a coating structure having a plurality of color layers as shown in
It is not required that a protrusion should fully fill a recess or a missing portion.
An outer surface of a coating structure, which is an outer surface of a clear coating structure, may have gentle undulations due to concavities and convexities of an inner layer.
A Yb laser beam may be used. Alternatively, a variety of other laser beams may be used.
The recess, the groove or the hole may be formed by cutting or masking or other methods.
The coating structure of the present invention may be formed on a basis metal other than the design surface of the vehicle wheel. Alternatively, the coating structure of the present invention may be applied to a basis material other than metal.
The present invention may be applied to a laminate structure of any kind of layers, not limited to the base layer, the color layer and the clear layer in the embodiments mentioned above.
The present invention may be applied to a coating structure of a vehicle wheel or the like.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-100535 | May 2016 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2017/018663 | 5/18/2017 | WO | 00 |