Claims
- 1. In a process for producing an indicia bearing laminated article which comprises:
- providing an anodized member consisting of an aluminum metal base composed of anodizable metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum and aluminum base alloys and an anodized oxide layer on said metal base, said oxide layer consisting of a non-porous thin oxide band adjacent to the metal base and a porous layer of oxide integral with said non-porous layer and producing an image in said porous layer, which image can only be viewed by reflected light; the improvements which comprise:
- applying a clear protective organic material to the surface of said porous layer to bury the image in said pores and to protect the image in said pores and to render said layer self-supporting and chemically removing the metal base from said article whereby the image in said layer can be viewed by diffused light and can be projected by direct illumination.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein the organic material is applied as a clear panel of organic material.
- 3. The process of claim 1 wherein the base metal is aluminum.
- 4. The process of claim 1 wherein the step of depositing a metal in the pores is continued after the image bearing pores have been filled to the point that the deposited metal forms a metal bridge between filled pores.
- 5. The process of claim 1 wherein the image in said porous layer is of a metal selected from the group consisting of silver, gold, palladium and platinum and the metal deposited on said image is selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, iron, copper, chromium, gold, silver, platinum, platinum and mixtures thereof.
- 6. The process of claim 5 including in addition, the step of depositing a metal in the image-containing pores by electroless deposition before applying said clear organic material to said porous surface.
- 7. The process of claim 1 including in addition the step of chemically removing the non-porous thin oxide band adjacent to the metal base after the metal base has been removed.
- 8. The process of claim 1 wherein the image consists of pigment, dye or metal.
- 9. The process of claim 1 wherein the metal base is removed from the remainder of the article by dissolution of the base.
- 10. The process of claim 5 wherein the metal is deposited on said metal image by electroless deposition.
- 11. A process for producing indicia bearing articles which comprises:
- providing an unsealed anodized aluminum metal base consisting of a layer of anodizable metal selected from the group consisting of aluminum and aluminum base alloys and anodically formed oxide layer on said metal, said oxide layer consisting of a non-porous thin oxide band adjacent to the anodizable metal base and integral therewith and a porous layer of oxide integral with said non-porous layer,
- producing a reduced silver image of said indicia in the pores of said porous layer,
- coating and further impregnating the porous oxide layer with a clear organic material,
- thereafter successively chemically removing the anodizable metal base and the thin non-porous oxide band, thereby exposing the reduced silver image in said porous layer,
- and then depositing metal on said reduced silver image by electroless deposition to build up the pattern of said indicia.
- 12. The process of clain 11 wherein the metal base is anodized aluminum foil, the metal image is silver, and the clear organic material is a resin, and the resin is cured by heating before the aluminum backing is removed.
- 13. The process of claim 11 wherein the indicia is a printed circuit and the electroless deposited metal is nickel.
Parent Case Info
This is a division of application Ser. No. 205,493 filed Dec. 7, 1971, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,994.
US Referenced Citations (12)
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
warnick and Pinner, Surface Treatment and Finishing of Aluminum and its Alloys, Robert Draper Ltd., England, 1956, pp. 374-375. |
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
205493 |
Dec 1971 |
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