Decorative Coatings Obtained by Combination of PVD, Galvanic and Powder Coatings

摘要

Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) is a powerful technology for the development of decorative coatings offering interesting properties: bright metallic appearance for polymer substrates and a wide range of colors. But at the same time this technique presents some limitations like insufficient leveling and covering of substrate defects and poor corrosion protection. The combination of PVD processing with other coating techniques enables efficient use of the particular advantages of each coating technique. In the present work three different combinations have been investigated: 1) PVD start layer as a base for an electroplated finishing, 2) powder coating as base for decorative PVD and 3) PVD on nickel electroplated substrate. Combination of magnetron sputtering and arc evaporation was used in order to take advantages from both processes. In the first case, it has been seen that the PVD start layer replaces at least four pre-treatment steps needed for full electroplating. Even more, PVD start layer could be used to make a conductive layer on plastics that cannot be usually electroplated (like polypropylene or polyamide which have increasing interest due to economical aspects). The second combination, a first powder coating, leads to products with good surface finishing avoiding the polishing step, an improved adhesion of the PVD coating and a good corrosion protection of the aluminum substrate.