Claims
- 1. A process for coating a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer with palladium, comprising, coating a surface of said liquid crystalline polymer with palladium by sputtering or ion-plating.
- 2. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein coating said surface is by sputtering.
- 3. The process as recited in claim 2 wherein said surface is roughened before said coating.
- 4. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein a palladium layer having a thickness of about 3 μm or less is produced.
- 5. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein said palladium layer has an adhesion to said liquid crystalline polymer of about 2 MPa or more when measured by DIN Method EN 582.
- 6. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein:
said liquid crystalline polymer is cleaned before said coating; then said liquid crystalline polymer is dried before said coating by heating; said liquid crystalline polymer is roughened in a sputtering chamber by plasma etching; and said liquid crystal polymer is coated with palladium.
- 7. The product of the process of claim 1
- 8. The process as recited in claim 1 wherein said liquid crystalline polymer is a polyester or a poly(ester-amide).
- 9. A composition, comprising, a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer coated with palladium, wherein said palladium has a thickness of less than about 3 μm, and has an adhesive strength to said liquid crystalline polymer of at least about 2 MPa when measured according to the method of DIN EN 582.
- 10. An article of the composition of claim 9.
- 11. A process for making a metal coated liquid crystalline polymer composition, comprising, electrolytically metal plating an liquid crystalline polymer having a palladium surface layer less than about 3 μm thick, and provided that:
said metal plating takes place on a surface of said palladium layer; a current density during said metal plating is at least about 5 A/dm2 of an area of said surface of said palladium layer, or said metal plating takes place at a rate of at least 1 μm/min, or both.
- 12. The process as recited in claim 11 wherein copper, silver, gold, chromium, nickel, tin or palladium is electrolytically plated.
- 13. The process as recited in claim 12 wherein copper is electrolytically plated.
- 14. The product of the process as recited in claim 11.
- 15. The process as recited in claim 11 wherein a metal layer formed has a peel adhesion to said liquid crystalline polymer of at least 0.1 N/mm when measured according to DIN Method 53494.
- 16. A process for making a metal coated liquid crystalline polymer composition, comprising, electrolytically metal plating an liquid crystalline polymer having a palladium surface layer less than about 3 μm thick, provided that said electrolytic metal plating takes place on a surface of said palladium layer.
- 17. The process as recited in claim 16 wherein copper, silver, gold, chromium, nickel, tin or palladium is electrolytically plated.
- 18. The process as recited in claim 16 wherein said palladium layer is about 0.05 μm to about 1.0 μm thick.
- 19. A composition, comprising, a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer coated with a metal layer of palladium and optionally one or more other metals, wherein:
said metal layer has a total thickness of about 5 μm or more; said palladium is in contact with said liquid crystalline polymer; and an adhesive peel strength of said metal layer to said liquid crystalline polymer of at least about 0.1 N/mm when measured according to DIN Method 53494.
- 20. An article of the composition of claim 19.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/073,194, filed Jan. 30, 1998.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60073194 |
Jan 1998 |
US |
Divisions (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09235559 |
Jan 1999 |
US |
Child |
10062818 |
Nov 2001 |
US |