Stock material or miscellaneous articles – Structurally defined web or sheet – Including variation in thickness
Patent
1996-06-21
1999-08-17
Ceperley, Mary E.
Stock material or miscellaneous articles
Structurally defined web or sheet
Including variation in thickness
148518, 2041574, 205 95, 205711, 442 7, 428935, B32B 306
Patent
active
059391723
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a screen material composed of strands or fibres, in which the strands or fibres, at their surface, consist of metal which has been deposited it in an electroplating operation.
Such a screen material is known from the U.S. Pat. No. 1934643.
Said publication describes a woven strand gauze which preferably consists of metal wires which are linked to one another in the crossing points with the aid of an electroplating operation.
A gauze as described, whose strands or fibres are provided with a metal layer, by means of an electroplating operation, has the drawback that, owing to the metallic overgrowth, a considerable diminution of the size of the openings occurs, with an attendant reduced aperture and a greater chance of blockage of the screen material. Said screen material can be used, for example, for effecting a separation between a liquid and a solid contained therein; such a screen material can also be used in the screen-printing industry for printing substrates.
The object of the present invention is to provide a solution for the abovementioned drawback and, to this end, relates to a screen material of the type specified, in which the structure composed of strands or fibres has been chosen from a knit, a woven, a nonwoven material, a material from strands which have been welded together, a material obtained by winding strands, or versions, subjected to calendering, of the last-mentioned two material types, and the strands are formed from electro-conductive material or else are provided with an electro-conductive cladding, and the metal in the electroplating operation has been deposited with an overgrowth ratio R greater than 1.
The term "overgrowth ratio" in this case refers to the maximum total thickening by metal, encountered all around a strand, divided by the maximum total thickening with metal, measured in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the first measurement.
In normal electroplating processes, said overgrowth ratio will in general mainly be equal to 1; if the overgrowth ratio is distinctly greater than 1, this is described as preferential overgrowth, and values of, for example, greater than 1.5 can be achieved which, in general, can go up to 10 and more.
It is known in the prior art to manufacture screen materials entirely by means of electroplating, in which, for example, a metallic screen skeleton, electroformed on a matrix, is removed from the matrix and is then thickened in an electroplating bath which, in particular, contains a brightener which has properties of a second class brightener. By following such a method, an overgrowth is obtained which, in the main, takes place preferentially in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the screen skeleton. Said materials and a method therefor are described in the Applicant's European Patent EP-B-0038104.
The use of a structure composed of strands or fibres, instead of a screen skeleton, is not described in said publication, nor is it suggested. When a known method of this type was applied to screen materials which comprise a structure composed of strands or fibres, it was found, surprisingly, that the previously mentioned linkage, aimed for in the American publication, of strands at the crossing points is strongly promoted by the preferential overgrowth character of the metal deposit, as a result of which, on the one hand, a gauze can be obtained which, with respect to the original gauze, has a very large open area, while on the other hand, nevertheless (assuming that, for example, a direction of preferential overgrowth is chosen which is in the main perpendicular to the plane of the starting gauze material) an extraordinarily strong link between the strands or fibres in the crossing points is accomplished, as a result of which an exceedingly sturdy and dimensionally stable gauze is obtained.
With regard to the above-described screen materials according to the invention, it should be noted that the screen materials made of strands welded to another, the screen materials obtained by winding or the calendered
REFERENCES:
patent: 3759799 (1973-09-01), Reinke
patent: 4039396 (1977-08-01), Anselrode
patent: 4107003 (1978-08-01), Anselrode
Korsse Johannes
Snakenborg Johannes T.
Ceperley Mary E.
Stork Screens B.V.
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