Stock material or miscellaneous articles – All metal or with adjacent metals – Composite; i.e. – plural – adjacent – spatially distinct metal...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-04-14
2001-05-22
Jones, Deborah (Department: 1775)
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
All metal or with adjacent metals
Composite; i.e., plural, adjacent, spatially distinct metal...
C148S535000, C156S281000, C156S324000, C156S327000, C156S330000, C428S416000, C428S457000, C428S458000, C428S626000, C428S636000, C428S653000, C428S925000, C428S926000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06235409
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
This invention relates to an aluminum laminated product. In one aspect, this invention relates to a bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy lamination and a method of making such a bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy lamination.
2. Background
Stainless steel dominates in many markets as the material of choice because of its corrosion resistance and bright finish.
However, stainless steel suffers from problems of high cost and heavy parts.
INTRODUCTION TO THE INVENTION
Current aluminum technology is influenced by the fact that bright dipping and anodizing are very sensitive to aluminum alloy composition, thereby influencing the alloys of choice for bright dipping and anodizing. A few high purity alloys are preferred. The high purity alloys are relatively soft, thereby influencing their use in high strength applications.
Aluminum is the preferred design choice for some metal applications because of light weight and lower cost than stainless steel. The light weight and lower cost of aluminum are attractive material properties that provide an enormous benefit to the manufacturer and especially to the end-user.
In replacing stainless steel in material design applications, aluminum can be bright rolled, or anodized, or coated. In some cases, the treated aluminum is as good as stainless steel in respect to corrosion resistance and bright finish.
However, untreated aluminum has a corrosion resistance which does not match up against certain non-corrosive metals, e.g., such as stainless steel in some applications. Aluminum's corrosion resistance sometimes discourages its use. Aluminum can be surface treated to provide excellent corrosion resistance, but, in some cases, existing surface treatments for aluminum do not provide the specific combination of formability, corrosion resistance, ultra-violet light resistance, scratch resistance, and ease of large-scale manufacture.
In the area of automotive trim, cost and light weight are critical factors. But, products achieving the required salt resistance, ultra-violet light resistance, scratch resistance, and formability at a reasonable cost have proven to be a challenging obstacle. Aluminum has a certain level of corrosion resistance, and the various available coatings cannot supply the scratch resistance and formability required. Further, the pre-treatments, brightening steps, and coating materials add an additional cost.
In areas other than automotive trim, aluminum replacement of stainless steel sometimes depends on corrosion resistance, but light weight and lower cost remain as attractive incentives.
A bright finish high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy product and a method of making such a product are needed in order to provide both the material properties of a bright finish top sheet and the lighter weight and lower cost of aluminum.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy laminated product and a method of making such a laminated product.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy laminated product and a method of making such a laminated product having light weight.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy laminated product and a method of making such a laminated product having lower cost.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy laminated product and a method of making such a laminated product having bright finish and corrosion resistance.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy laminated product and a method of making such a laminated product having excellent formability.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy laminated product and a method of making such a laminated product having bright finish and corrosion resistance in automotive, lighting sheet, and other surface sensitive applications.
These and other objects of the present invention will be described in the detailed description of the invention which follows. These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from a careful review of the detailed description and by reference to the figures of the drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The product and process of the present invention provide a bright finish aluminum on high strength aluminum lamination product, including a bright finish top sheet of aluminum or aluminum alloy, a high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy substrate, and adhesive for bonding the bright finish aluminum top sheet to the high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy substrate to provide a bright finish, high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy lamination product having brighter finish than a sheet product of the high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy and higher strength than a sheet product of the bright finish aluminum of the same thickness as the lamination product. In one embodiment, the bright finish aluminum includes chemically brightened 5657 aluminum foil. The preferred adhesive includes a polypropylene thermoplastic adhesive. In one embodiment, the high strength aluminum includes 5182 sheet.
The high strength aluminum lamination product of the invention is made by a process comprising the following steps:
(a) providing a bright finish aluminum top sheet of an aluminum or aluminum alloy;
(b) providing a structural member composed of a high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy substrate; and
(c) providing a corrosion insulating adhesive barrier layer between the bright finish aluminum top sheet and the high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy substrate by bonding with an adhesive to provide a bright finish aluminum on high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy lamination product having brighter finish than a sheet product of said high strength aluminum or aluminum alloy and higher strength than a sheet product of the bright finish aluminum of the same thickness as the lamination product.
The aluminum or aluminum alloy in the top sheet and in the structural member are provided by providing the aluminum or aluminum alloy from a coil, passing the aluminum or aluminum alloy from a coil through a cleaning operation, then washing and drying the cleaned aluminum or aluminum alloy. If desired, the cleaned aluminum or aluminum alloy may be surface treated by passing it through a conversion coating operation.
The top sheet is preferably a 5657 aluminum foil sheet having a thickness less than about 50% of the thickness of the lamination product. More preferably, the 5657 aluminum foil top sheet has a thickness less than about 25% of the thickness of the lamination product. The top sheet preferably has a thickness of greater than about 0.002 inch.
A preferred lamination product is at least 20% brighter than a high strength aluminum product of identical thickness. More specifically, the top sheet has a bright finish at least 20% brighter than a 5182 alloy sheet of the same thickness as the lamination product. Optimally, the 5657 alloy top sheet is chemically brightened to form a brighter top sheet. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the lamination product is at least 50% brighter than 5182 alloy aluminum sheet.
A particularly preferred 5657 aluminum foil on 5182 aluminum lamination product comprises:
(a) a 5657 aluminum foil top sheet having a thickness greater than about 0.003 inch;
(b) a 5182 aluminum alloy substrate; and
(c) an adhesive bonding the 5657 aluminum foil top sheet to the 5182 aluminum alloy substrate to provide a 5657 aluminum foil on 5182 aluminum alloy lamination product.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3261724 (1966-07-01), Ulam
patent: 3607542 (1971-09-01), Leonard et al.
patent: 3830634 (1974-08-01), Zaremski et al.
patent: 3884731 (1975-05-01), Barkman et al.
patent: 4992
Askin Albert L.
Schultz Paul B.
Serafin Daniel L.
Stanko Donald J.
Alcoa Inc.
Glantz Douglas G.
Jones Deborah
Klepac Glenn E.
Koehler Robert R.
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