Decorative member

Details Decorative member Decorative member

1997-08-04

1999-10-26

Jones, Deborah

Stock material or miscellaneous articles

All metal or with adjacent metals

Composite; i.e., plural, adjacent, spatially distinct metal...

428670, 428643, 428675, B32B 1520

Patent

active

059725265

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
THE FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a decorative member. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a decorative member which may have white, gold, black or multicolor being a combination of the above colors and which, when worn, does not induce Ni allergy.


BACKGROUND ART

Exterior watch parts such as wristwatch case frames, back lids and bands, ornaments such as necklaces, bracelets, pierced earrings, finger rings and earrings and spectacle frames are decorative members which are brought into direct contact with the skin when worn. Most of these decorative members have a tone such as white gloss, golden gloss or black gloss.
In the industrial manufacturing of these decorative members, the common process is employed in which a coating layer with the above tones are formed on a substrate, for example, a substrate of a metal in accordance with the wet or dry plating technique.
For example, in the manufacturing of a watch case with white gloss, the common process comprises the formation as a primary layer of a Ni plate layer having a thickness of about 2 to 3 .mu.m on a surface of a substrate of brass or German silver and thereafter the formation as a finishing layer of a Pd--Ni alloy plate layer having a thickness of about 2 to 3 .mu.m on the Ni plate layer, optionally followed by flash plating of Rh or Pt on the above Pd--Ni alloy plate layer.
In the manufacturing of a decorative member with golden gloss, the common process comprises the formation of a Ni plate layer having a thickness of about 2 to 3 .mu.m on a surface of a substrate of, for example, brass or German silver, thereafter the formation of a Pd--Ni alloy plate layer having a thickness of about 2 to 3 .mu.m on the Ni plate layer and finally the formation of a layer of, for example, 22 carat Au--Ni alloy plate or an Au plate layer having a thickness of about 1 to 2 .mu.m on the Pd--Ni alloy plate layer. Further, a golden decorative member has been proposed which is produced by sequentially forming an Ni plate layer and then a Pd--Ni alloy plate layer on a surface of a substrate according to the wet plating technique and thereafter sequentially forming an about 0.1 to 10 .mu.m thick TiN layer and Au or Au--Ni alloy layer in this order on the Pd--Ni alloy plate layer according to the dry plating technique such as sputtering or vacuum evaporation technique.
In the manufacturing of a decorative member with black gloss, the common process comprises the formation of about 2 to 3 .mu.m thick Ni plate layer or Cu--Ni--Cr alloy plate layer on a surface of a substrate of, for example, brass or German silver and forming thereon an about 0.5 to 3 .mu.m black Ni plate layer or black Cr plate layer. Further, a black decorative member has been proposed which is produced by forming the above Ni plate layer or Cu--Ni--Cr alloy plate layer on a surface of a substrate according to the wet plating technique and forming thereon a TaC layer having a thickness of about 0.1 to 2 .mu.m according to the PVD technique such as ion plating or sputtering technique.
However, all the above conventional white, golden and black decorative members contain Ni, so that they have the danger of inducing dermatitis because the Ni may be dissolved as free Ni in, for example, the sweat excreted from the skin and brought into contact with the skin.
White, golden and black decorative members which do not contain Ni have recently been proposed for suppressing the above Ni allergization.
For example, white decorative members are known which are produced by forming a Cu plate layer or an Sn--Cu alloy plate layer containing 30 to 35% by weight of Sn in a thickness of at least 2 .mu.m on a surface of a substrate of, for example, brass and forming thereon a finishing layer of a Pd plate layer having a thickness of about 0.1 to 5 .mu.m. Also, white decorative members are known which are produced by forming a flash plate layer of Rh or Pt on the above Pd plate layer.
Golden decorative members are known which are produced by first forming a Cu plate layer or a

REFERENCES:
patent: 4206268 (1980-06-01), Roemer et al.
patent: 4473621 (1984-09-01), Drylie
patent: 5792565 (1998-08-01), Cupolo et al.
Metal 64 (5) (1994). Michiyuki Kume, pp. 50-51.
XP-002062942, Database WPI, Section Ch. Week 9502, Derwent Publications Ltd., London, Great Britain, Class M13, AN 95-009790 & Japanese Laid-Open Publication No. 06 293 990 Abstract, 1 p.

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