Coating processes – Interior of hollow article coating – Coating by vapor – gas – mist – or smoke
Patent
1997-04-25
1998-08-25
Lusignan, Michael
Coating processes
Interior of hollow article coating
Coating by vapor, gas, mist, or smoke
427230, 427238, 427249, 427294, 427557, 118715, 118723E, 118622, 118 501, B05D 722, C23C 1626, C23C 1654
Patent
active
057981396
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD
This invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of manufacturing a plastic container, the inner surface of which is coated with a hard carbon film.
BACKGROUND ART
In general, plastic containers are widely used as packaging materials in various kinds of fields such as a food field and a medicine field because plastic containers have various benefits which are easy to mold, light in weight and low in cost. However, as is well known, plastic permits low molecular gas, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, to permeate therethrough, and furthermore, plastic sorbs (i.e., both of absorption and adsorption occur simultaneously) inside therein low molecular organic compound, namely, low molecular organic compound infiltrates into the plastic composition and diffuses therein in such a manner that the low molecular organic compound is absorbed inside the plastic. Therefore, plastic containers are restricted in many aspects to specific objects and forms in use in comparison with other containers such as a glass container.
For example, in case that a carbonated beverage such as beer is filled into a plastic container, oxygen in the atmosphere permeates the wall of the plastic container to reach inside the plastic container, thus gradually oxidizing and deteriorating the beverage contained therein. In addition, carbon dioxide gas in the carbonated beverage permeates, in reverse, the wall of the plastic container and is released off toward outside, thus the carbonated beverage loses its savor.
Further, in case that beverages having aroma component such as orange juice are filled into a plastic container, aroma component (such as limonene in the case of the orange juice) which is a low molecular organic compound is sorbed inside the plastic. Consequently, chemical composition of the aroma components in the beverages may lose its balance to deteriorate the beverages in quality.
In addition, a plastic container may have a problem that low molecular compound contained in the plastic container dissolves in a liquid content contained in the container. More specifically, in case that content (especially, liquid) requiring a high purity is filled into the container, plasticizer, residual monomer or other additives dissolves out of the container into the liquid content, thus deteriorating purity of the content.
Furthermore, at present, how the large numbers of the used containers are to be treated has become a social issue, and collecting the used containers for the sake of recycling of the resources is in progress. However, when the used plastic containers are to be used as the recycled containers, if the used plastic containers are left in the environment before being collected, various low molecular organic compounds such as mold odor is sorbed in the plastic container, unlike glass containers. The low molecular organic compound thus sorbed in the container remains in the plastic even after being washed. Therefore, thus sorbed low molecular organic compound gradually dissolves out of the plastic into the content in the plastic container as impurity, thereby deteriorating the content in quality and causing a hygienic problem. This results in that the plastic containers can be hardly used as returnable containers, namely, the containers collected to be reused.
In order to suppress the above-mentioned features of the plastic, namely, the feature of permitting low molecular gas to permeate therethrough or the feature of sorbing low molecular organic compound therein, crystals in the plastic have been oriented to enhance crystallinity or thin sheets of plastic having a lower sorption or thin films of aluminum have been laminated. In either methods, however, problems of gas barrier property and the sorption of low molecular organic compound cannot be perfectly solved while maintaining the basic properties of the plastic container.
Recently, there has appeared a thin film forming technology for a DLC (Diamond like carbon) film and it is known that laboratory tools such as beakers and flasks are coated with th
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patent: 4746538 (1988-05-01), Mackowski
patent: 4859489 (1989-08-01), Pinkhasov
patent: 5190807 (1993-03-01), Kimock et al.
patent: 5308649 (1994-05-01), Babacz
patent: 5565248 (1996-10-01), Plester et al.
Nagashima Kazufumi
Shima Hideaki
Barr Michael
Kabushiki Kaisha Samco International Kenkyusho
Kirin Beer Kabushiki Kaisha
Lusignan Michael
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