Thin Film Metallization and Protective Top-Coat Development

摘要

This research involved an investigation to find an alternative technology to chrome plating. The proposed system used a plastics substrate, a metalized layer, and a protective top-coat. The interfaces between the layers are the challenges and thus various experiments are conducted to examine the different possibilities for each layer and find the most suitable combination for the system meeting the appearance and functional requirements. Various studies, using different techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and profilometery have been presented to examine different failure modes and identify the root cause of the failures. This analysis was used to improve the system in the subsequent iterations. Two systems were developed. System u22Au22 consists of polycarbonate, a stainless steel metalized layer, and a silicone based top-coat. System u22Bu22 consists of polycarbonate, a stainless steel metalized layer, an aluminum metalized layer and a silicone based top-coat.