This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0084868, filed on Jul. 11, 2022 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0089337, filed on Jul. 10, 2023, the contents of which are all hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a razor blade and a razor cartridge including the same, and more particularly, to a razor blade used in a disposable razor or a cartridge replaceable razor and a razor cartridge including the same.
A razor is used to cut and remove hair such as beard and mustache or fine hair on the face or body. The configuration of the razor is largely composed of a handle gripped by the user and a razor cartridge including at least one blade that cuts body hairs according to the movement of the handle. The razor cartridge is used for a disposable razor in which the cartridge cannot be replaced or a cartridge replaceable razor in which the cartridge is detachable from the handle.
One aspect is a razor blade and a razor cartridge including the same that can improve blade durability with a reduced blade cutting force by controlling a structure shape of a metal coating layer into a columnar shape when forming a metal coating layer on a substrate.
Another aspect is a razor blade including: a substrate including a substrate tip, a first surface extending from the substrate tip to one side, and a second surface extending from the substrate tip to the other side; and a metal coating layer formed on the first surface, the second surface, and the substrate tip, in which the metal coating layer includes a plurality of columnar structures formed toward an outside of the substrate.
Another aspect is a razor cartridge including: at least one blade including an edge portion and a cutting edge formed at a tip of the edge portion; and a blade housing configured to accommodate the blade in a longitudinal direction such that at least a portion of the cutting edge is exposed upward, in which the razor blade includes a substrate including a substrate tip, a first surface extending from the substrate tip to one side, and a second surface extending from the substrate tip to the other side, and a metal coating layer formed on the first surface, the second surface, and the substrate tip, and the metal coating layer includes a plurality of columnar structures formed toward an outside of the substrate.
Details of other embodiments are included in the detailed description and drawings.
By forming a plurality of columnar structures when forming a metal coating layer on a substrate, the cutting force of the blade during shaving can be reduced and durability of the blade can be improved.
A blade generally comprises a substrate made of a metal material such as stainless steel, and is formed to have a cutting edge including a substrate tip. The blade may include a metal coating layer made of carbide, diamond-like carbon (DLC), nitride, or the like on the substrate, and thus, the blade has improved durability and cutting force compared to a blade without a metal coating layer.
The metal coating layer may be formed by a method such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD) or physical vapor deposition (PVD).
The blade may include a polymer material, specifically, a resin coating layer such as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), on the metal coating layer, and thus, the blade has improved lubrication performance and friction reducing effects compared to a blade without a resin coating layer.
Meanwhile, when forming a metal coating layer on a substrate, since a cutting force and durability of the blade are determined according to a thin film thickness and a thin film shape according to the location of the substrate, such as a substrate tip and both side surfaces of the substrate, a technology that can optimize the cutting force and durability of the blade are required.
Hereinafter, a razor blade according to an embodiment of the present disclosure and a razor cartridge including the same will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Prior to the description, the razor blade and the razor cartridge including the same according to the embodiment of the present disclosure may be integrally formed with a handle of a disposable razor, and may be selectively combined with the handle of a cartridge replaceable razor.
As illustrated in
The handle 100 is gripped by a user. The handle 100 includes a handle body 110 and a handle header 130.
The handle body 110 is a part gripped by the user of the razor 10. The handle header 130 is provided on one end of the handle body 110 and is detachably coupled to the razor cartridge 500. Moreover, the handle body 110 rotatably supports the selectively coupled razor cartridge 500. Here, the handle body 110 is manufactured integrally with the razor cartridge 500 in the case of a disposable razor.
The handle header 130 is coupled to the handle coupler 300 formed at a lower portion of the razor cartridge 500. The handle header 130 is coupled to the handle coupler 300 to support the razor cartridge 500 to rotate within a predetermined angle range with respect to a fixed axis or an axis that moves within a predetermined range.
In addition, the handle header 130 is selectively coupled to the handle coupler 300 in the cartridge replaceable razor. In this case, the handle 100 may be provided with an operation means (not illustrated) that can operate the handle header 130. The user can release the coupling between the handle header 130 and the handle coupler 300 by operating the operation means.
The razor cartridge 500 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a blade housing 510, a lubrication band 530, a clip 550, and a razor blade (1000: hereinafter referred to as a “blade”).
The blade housing 510 includes a frame 511, a guard 513, and a cap 515. Here, the guard 513 is disposed in the front (positive X-axis direction) of the frame 511 with the frame 511 as the center, and the cap 515 is disposed in the rear (negative X-axis direction) of the frame 511 with the frame 511 as the center.
The central portion of the frame 511 is formed to open toward the top. The frame 511 accommodates at least one blade 1000 in the longitudinal direction (Y-axis direction). When the plurality of blades 1000 are disposed in the frame 511, each blade 1000 may be arranged in a row in a transverse direction (X-axis direction) with respect to the other blades 1000.
The guard 513 comes into close contact with the skin surface (F: see
The lubrication band 530 exposed to the top of the razor cartridge 500 may be disposed in the cap 515. The lubricating band 530 includes a lubricating material, and allows the lubricating material to be applied to a skin surface F where the blade 1000 passes during shaving. The lubricating material may include components for protecting the skin surface F after shaving.
The clip 550 surrounds both sides of the frame 511 and is coupled to the blade housing 510. The clip 550 prevents the blade 1000 from being separated from the blade housing 510.
Next,
As illustrated in
The blade 1000 includes a substrate 1500 and a coating layer 1700 formed by being laminated on the substrate 1500. A cutting edge 1600 including a substrate tip 1510 and a coating tip 1753, which will be described later, is formed in the tip area, which is a free end of the blade 1000.
The substrate 1500 forms the basic structure of the blade 1000 and is used as a base material for manufacturing the blade 1000. The substrate 1500 includes the substrate tip 1510, a first surface 1530, and a second surface 1550. The substrate tip 1510 is provided to form a final tip 1720 when the coating layer 1700 is formed on the substrate 1500. The substrate 1500 is mainly made of stainless steel, but silicon or ceramic may be used.
Referring to
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The coating layer 1700 of the blade 1000 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a final tip 1720, a resin coating layer 1740, and a metal coating layer 1750.
The final tip 1720 forms the tip of the cutting edge 1600. The final tip 1720 is formed by the coating layer 1700 formed on the substrate 1600.
The resin coating layer 1740 is positioned on the metal coating layer 1750 to form the outer surface of the blade 1000. The resin coating layer 1740 may include polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as an example, but is not limited thereto and resins of various materials may be used.
The metal coating layer 1750 is coated between the substrate 1500 and the resin coating layer 1740. The metal coating layer 1750 may include at least one of CrB, CrC, or CrCB based on Cr or include at least one of Ti, TiC, TiB, TiCB, TiAlC, or TiSiC based on Ti, but is not necessarily limited thereto.
More specifically, the metal coating layer 1750 may be composed of a heterogeneous material, and in an embodiment, the heterogeneous material may include a metal material and boron B. In one embodiment, the metal material is described for the case of Cr, but is not necessarily limited thereto, and may be any one of Ni, Ti, W, and Nb in addition to Cr. Furthermore, among heterogeneous materials, B may be replaced with C. As a result, the metal coating layer 1750 may be formed using a composite single target that is a combination of any one of Cr, Ni, Ti, W, and Nb and any one of B and C, or a partial target having form bonded in a crystallographic manner.
The metal coating layer 1750 is formed by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method. In the physical vapor deposition method, the metal coating layer is formed on the substrate 1500 by any one sputtering process of DC Sputter, DC Magnetron Sputter, DC Unbalanced Magnetron Sputter, and RF Sputter, and is formed in a state where the temperature of the substrate 1500 is formed at 100 degrees or more. Specifically, the metal coating layer 1750 is formed when the temperature of the substrate 1500 is between 150 degrees and 400 degrees.
In the metal coating layer 1750, thicknesses of the coating formed on the first surface 1530, the substrate tip 1510, and the second surface 1550 based on the temperature of the substrate 1500, a pressure difference, and a moving speed of the sputtering target may be different from each other.
Referring to
The first moving section 810 is a section in which the metal coating layer 1750 is formed on the second surface 1550, and the substrate 1500 moves faster in the first moving section 810 than in the second moving section 820. The metal coating layer 1750 formed on the second surface 1550 may have a smaller height than the metal coating layer 1750 formed on the substrate tip 1510, and as a result, the second columnar structure 1751b may have a smaller height than the third columnar structure 1751c.
The second moving section 820 is a section in which the metal coating layer 1750 is formed on the substrate tip 1510, and the substrate 1500 may move more slowly in the second moving section 820 than in the first moving section 810 and the third moving section 830. As a result, the metal coating layer 1750 formed on the substrate tip 1510 may have a higher height than the metal coating layer 1750 formed on the first surface 1530 and the second surface 1550, and as a result, the third columnar structure 1751c may have a higher height than the first columnar structure 1751a and the second columnar structure 1751b.
The third moving section 830 is a section in which the metal coating layer 1750 is formed on the first surface 1530, and the substrate 1500 moves faster in the third moving section 830 than in the second moving section 820. The metal coating layer 1750 formed on the first surface 1550 may have a smaller height than the metal coating layer 1750 formed on the substrate tip 1510, and as a result, the first columnar structure 1751a may have a smaller height than the third columnar structure 1751c.
Here, the moving speed of the substrate 1500 of the first moving section 810 and the third moving section 830 may be a speed at which the metal coating layer 1750 can be deposited at 0.5 nanometers or more per second, and the second moving section 820 may be stacked at a speed of less than 0.5 nanometers per second. More specifically, a ratio of the moving speed of the substrate 1500 in the first moving section 810 and the third moving section 830 to the moving speed of the substrate 1500 in the second moving section 820 may have a value of about 1:0.7.
In addition, as the substrate 1500 moves slowly in the second moving section 820 compared to the first moving section 810 and the second moving section 830, the third columnar structure 1751c may have a radial shape around the substrate tip 1510 with the substrate tip 1510 as the center.
The metal coating layer 1750 is formed on the substrate tip 1510, the first surface 1530, and the second surface 1550, and includes a plurality of columnar structures 1751 formed in a direction toward the outside of the substrate 1500. In addition, the metal coating layer 1750 further includes a coating tip 1753 formed on the substrate tip 1510, a first coating surface 1755 extending from the coating tip 1753 to one side, and a second coating surface 1757 extending from the coating tip 1753 to the other side.
Referring to
Referring to
The plurality of first columnar structures 1751a are not formed in a straight line when substantially formed on the first surface 1530, but have a shape that curves toward the coating tip 1753 as they move away from the first surface 1530. That is, the plurality of first columnar structures 1751a have a shape in which curvature increases compared to a shape closer to the first surface 1530 as the distance from the first surface 1530 increases.
The plurality of second columnar structures 1751b are formed on the second surface 1550. As the plurality of second columnar structures 1751b are closer to the substrate tip 1510, the angle θ2 with respect to the second surface 1550 decreases. That is, when the plurality of second columnar structures 1751b are formed above the second surface 1550, the angle θ2 with respect to the second surface gradually decreases in the direction of the substrate tip 1510.
The plurality of second columnar structures 1751b are not formed in a straight line when formed on the second surface 1550 like the plurality of first columnar structures 1751a described above, but have a shape bent toward the coating tip 1753 as the distance from the second surface 1550 increases. In detail, the plurality of second columnar structures 1751b have a shape in which the curvature increases compared to a shape closer to the second surface 1550 as the distance from the second surface 1550 increases.
The plurality of third columnar structures 1751c are formed on the substrate tip 1510. The plurality of third columnar structures 1751c are radially formed around the substrate tip 1510. Substantially, the plurality of third columnar structures 1751c are formed in the coating tip 1753 area.
The distance between the substrate tip 1510 and the coating tip 1753 has a value between 20 nanometers and 550 nanometers. Meanwhile, the plurality of columnar structures 1751 are formed over about 300 nanometers in a direction from the substrate tip toward the coating tip 1753.
As illustrated in
Referring to
The plurality of columnar structures 1751 may be approximated as an elliptical column shape. As an embodiment of the present disclosure, the plurality of columnar structures 1751 are formed in an elliptical shape having a long axis L1 of about 25 nanometers and a short axis L2 of about 3 nanometers, but are not limited thereto, and the columnar structure 1751 may be formed by changing the numerical values of the long axis L1 and the short axis L2.
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Meanwhile, in the blade 1000 having the plurality of columnar structures 1751 of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the cutting force exists even when going through a shaving test of about 1000 or more times beyond 700 times of shaving. Accordingly, it can be seen that the blade 1000 having the plurality of columnar structures 1751 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has relatively strong durability compared to the conventional blade without the plurality of columnar structures 1751.
Although embodiments of the present disclosure have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, a person with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present disclosure belongs will be able to understand that the present disclosure may be implemented in other specific forms without changing the technical spirit or essential features. Therefore, the embodiments described above should be understood as illustrative in all respects and not limiting. The scope of the present disclosure is indicated by claims to be described later rather than the detailed description above, and all changes or modified forms derived from the meaning and scope of the claims and their equivalent concepts should be construed as being included in the scope of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2022-0084868 | Jul 2022 | KR | national |