WO2006058722A1

WO2006058722A1 - Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article

Info

Publication number: WO2006058722A1
Application number: PCT/EP2005/012772
Authority: WO
Inventors: Paolo Canonico
Original assignee: Mascioni S.P.A.
Priority date: 2004-12-03
Filing date: 2005-11-30
Publication date: 2006-06-08
Also published as: ITMI20042323A1

Abstract

The process of surface finishing and colouration of an article consists of subjecting the textile article to one more successive treatments by vacuum magnetron or sputtering for the surface deposition of one or more layers adapted to confer specific properties to the article.

Description

PROCESS OF SURFACE FINISHING AND COLOURATION OF AN ARTICLE

DESCRIPTION

The present invention generally refers to a process of surface finishing and colouration suitable to be applied to any material, and in particular to a process of surface finishing and colouration of a textile article of any nature.

A metallisation process of a textile article by vacuum deposition is known.

In this case, the article is made to cross a special vacuum vaporiser in which the heating and subsequent vaporisation of the metal (generally aluminium) takes place. In the vacuum, the vaporised metal particles move independently from each other along rectilinear trajectories and metallise the substrate by means of condensation.

Generally, such procedure is effectively applied only when the metal is alum±nium, the vaporisation of other metals being particularly difficult due to their high fusion temperature and low condensation speed.

Therefore, such deposition technique considerably limits the scope of application, since it doesn't permit the deposit of metallic layers of every type, in particular refractory metals and/or their alloys or chemical compounds.

Also known is another textile article colouration process by means of coating with pigments during the dyeing and printing. Through the pigments, it is possible to obtain brilliant colours for every type of fabric.

The pigments' disadvantage lies in their low stability under wet and dry friction, particularly for brilliant colours.

Another drawback of the pigments lies in the fact that they confer a certain stiffness to the touch, due to the presence of a polymeric binder.

Finally, the process of dying and printing by pigments is rather polluting and requires the purification of great quantities of treatment liquid.

The technical task set by the present invention is therefore to realise a process for the surface finishing and colouration of an article which permits eliminating the reported technical drawbacks of the known art .

Within the scope of this technical task, one object of the invention is to realise a process for the surface finishing and colouration of a textile article which permits conferring new chromatic and water repellent properties to the textile article thus treated.

Another object of the invention is to realise a process for the surface finishing and colouration of an article which does not pollute the environment.

Another object of the invention is to realise a process for the surface finishing and colouration of an article which permits applying metallic layers of practically every type. Another object of the invention is to realise a process for the surface finishing and colouration of an article which permits depositing one or more metallic layers which are stable and resistant to wet and dry friction.

Not the last object of the invention is to realise a process for the surface finishing and colouration of a textile article which confers extreme softness to the touch to the article thus realised.

The technical task as well as these and other objects are achieved according to the present invention by realising a process of surface finishing and colouration of an article, characterised in that it consists in subjecting said article to one or more successive treatments by vacuum magnetron sputtering for the surface deposition of one or more layers adapted to confer specific properties to said article.

Other characteristics of the present invention are defined, moreover, in the subsequent claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention shall become clearer from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the process of surface finishing and colouration of a textile article according to the finding, illustrated for indicating and not limiting purposes in the attached drawings, in which:

Figure 1 schematically shows a reaction chamber where the textile article is treated by vacuum magnetron sputtering. The process of surface finishing of a textile article consists in subjecting the textile article, in natural or synthetic fabric, to one or more successive treatments by vacuum magnetron sputtering for the surface deposition of one or more layers adapted to confer specific properties to the article.

The vacuum magnetron sputtering technique consists of generating an electrical discharge between one or more cathodes composed of the material to be deposited and an anode. The gas ions in which the discharge occurs collide with the cathode or cathodes, causing the ejection of particles which migrate towards the substrate (the surface of the textile article subjected to treatment) , where they are deposited.

The cathode or cathodes are provided with magnets which confine the discharge in proximity to the cathodes themselves, thus increasing the frequency of the collision events which are the source of the material ejections.

Each treatment is realised with a plasmatic gas comprising one or more elements chosen from Ar, Ne, Kr, Xe, N₂, O₂, with a magnetron discharge current density comprised between 10 and 1,000 mA/cm² and a plasmatic gas pressure comprised between 10^"2 and 1 Pa.

Each treatment is realised so to superficially coat the textile article in a complete manner.

In order to deposit at least one coloured metallic layer, one or more target cathodes are used, realised in a metallic material chosen from aluminium, titanium, stainless steel, copper, bronze, silver, gold, platinum, brass or other metals or metallic alloys.

Advantageously, it is possible to deposit at least one cover layer of the metallic layer, adapted to modify the chromatic effect conferred by the underlying metallic layer.

This is realised by introducing a N₂ and/or O₂ gas in the plasmatic gas, comprised between 1 and 50% in concentration, chemically reactant with the metallic material of the target cathode (s) .

The duration of the treatment depends on the colouration which one intends to attain.

The process also permits depositing at least one water repellent layer by utilising one or more target cathodes realised in polymeric material based ^• on ^• polyolefins or containing fluorine.

The deposit of the water repellent layer is realised with a magnetron discharge current created by a RF power- supply with f = 13.56 MHz, 27 MHZ or 40.68 MHz, and a power density comprised between 0.5 and 15 W/cm³.

We refer now to figure 1.

When a negative potential is applied to the cathode 1, situated in the magnetic field generated by the magnets 3, a surface zone of the cathode 1 is affected by a crossed magnetic and electric field.

The electrons situated in such zone move according to a complex trajectory, and ionise the gas with the result of creating a toroidal zone 4 of plasmatic gas close to the surface of the cathode.

At the same time, the positive ions are accelerated towards the cathode 1 and bombard its surface in an erosion zone 5.

The material particles which abandon the target cathode 1 are deposited on the textile article 6 in the form of a thin layer 7. The article to be treated is moved, also reversibly so that it is subjected to additional treatments, by an uncoiler roller 8 to a coiler roller 9.

For a better understanding of process at the base of the present invention, the following examples have been given.

EXAMPLE 1

A polyester fabric sample is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 240 mm from a Ti target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^~3~ Pa. The chamber is filled with Ar at the pressure of 2.66XlO^'1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode of 60 s duration, at a current density of 105 mA/cm². A Ti coating layer results, having a thickness of approximately 150 A (IA = 10^"10 In) . EXAMPLE 2

A polyamide fabric sample is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 200 mm from a Cu target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^~3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Kr at the pressure of 1.33XlO^"1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode of 60 s duration, at a current density of 210 mA/cm². A Cu coating layer results, having a thickness of approximately 100 A.

EXAMPLE 3

A polyester fabric sample is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 240 mm from a stainless steel target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^"3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Ne at the pressure of SxIO^"1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode of 120 s duration, at a current density of 80 mA/cm². A stainless steel coating layer results, having a thickness of approximately 100 A.

EXAMPLE 4

A fibre glass fabric sample is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 200 mm from a brass target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^'3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Ar at the pressure of 3.33XlO^'1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode of 120 s duration, at a current density of 1,000 mA/ctn². A brass coating layer results, having a thickness of approximately 300 A.

EXAMPLE 5

A polyester fabric sample is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 240 mm from a Ti target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^~3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Ar at the pressure of 2.66XlO^"1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode of 120 s duration, at a current density of 200 mA/cm². Subsequently, O₂ is added to the plasmatic gas and the treatment is continued in an 85% Ar, 15% O₂ gas mixture at the pressure of 3.07XlO^"1 Pa. After 200 s of treatment, the sample has a blue colouration.

EXAMPLE 6

A polyester fabric sample, coated with a thin layer of brass at the conditions stated in Example 4, is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 240 mm from a Ti target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^"3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Ar at the pressure of 2.66XlO^"1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode, at a current density of 100-250 mA/cm². The Ti layer is deposited on the fabric for no more than 10 s. Subsequently, O₂ is added to the plasmatic gas and the treatment is continued in a 90% Ar, 10% O₂ gas mixture at the pressure of 2.93XlO^"1 Pa. After 105 s of treatment, the sample has an intense yellow colouration.

EXAMPLE 7

A polyester fabric sample, coated with a Cu layer at the conditions stated in Example 4, is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 240 mm from a Ti target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^"3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Ar at the pressure of 2.66XlO^"1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode, at a current density of 100-250 mA/cm². The Ti layer is deposited on the fabric for no more than 10 s. Subsequently, O₂ is added to the plasmatic gas and the treatment is continued in an 80% Ar, 20% O₂ gas mixture at the pressure of 3.33XlO^'1 Pa. After 95 s of treatment the sample has an orange colouration; after 240 s of treatment the sample has a pink colouration.

EXAMPLE 8

A polyester fabric sample, coated with a Ti layer at the conditions stated in Example I₁ is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 240 mm from a Ti target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^'3 Pa. The chamber is filled with a mixture of 93% Ar and 7% N₂, and at the pressure of 2.93XlO^"1 Pa a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode, at a current density of 100-250 mA/cm². After 240 s of treatment, the sample has a gold type colouration.

EXAMPLE 9

A polyester fabric sample is situated in the vacuum reaction chamber at a distance of 200 mm from a Teflon target cathode. The chamber is pumped to the pressure of 6.67xlO^~3 Pa. The chamber is filled with Ar at the pressure of 1.33XlO^"1 Pa. Subsequently, a magnetron current discharge is generated by means of high voltage application to the cathode, with the frequency f = 40.68 MHz, power density w = 2 W/cm³ and treatment duration equal to 180 s. During the treatment, small Teflon particles are deposited on the fabric surface, creating a permanent layer having water repellent properties similar to Teflon.

The process of surface finishing and colouration of a textile article thus conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, all falling within the scope of the inventive concept; furthermore, all of the details may be substituted with technically equivalent elements.

The process of surface finishing and colouration, object of the present invention, may be utilised for applications not necessarily limited to the textile industry, since the results of the present invention remain equally valid for any object, whether of organic or inorganic nature.

The greater applicative difficulties of such process in the textile industry imply its application also in other fields and in products of various shape and nature, since technological and structural problems are reduced.

Claims

CLAIMS ■

1. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article, characterised in that it consists of subjecting said article to one or more successive treatments by vacuum magnetron sputtering for the surface deposition of one or more layers adapted to confer specific properties to said article.

2. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to claim 1, characterised in that each treatment is realised with a plasmatic gas comprising one or more elements chosen from Ar, Ne, Kr, Xe, N₂, O₂, with a magnetron discharge current density comprised between 10 and 1,000 mA/cm² and a pressure of said plasmatic gas comprised between 10^"2 and 1 Pa.

3. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that it deposits at least one coloured metallic layer by utilising one or more target cathodes realised in a metallic material chosen from aluminium,

■titanium, stainless steel, copper, bronze, _- silver, gold, platinum, brass or other metals or metallic alloys.

4. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that it deposits at least one cover layer of said metallic layer adapted to modify the colouration of said metallic layer, by introducing into said plasmatic gas a N₂ and/or O₂ gas, comprised between 1 and 50% in concentration, chemically reactant with the metallic material of said one or more target cathodes .

5. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that it deposits at least one water repellent layer by utilising one or more target cathodes realised in a polymeric material based on polyolefins or containing fluorine.

6. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that the deposit of said at least one water repellent layer is realised with a magnetron discharge current created by an RF power supply with f = 13.56 MHz, ,27 MHz or 40.68 MHz, and a power density comprised between 0.5 and 15 W/cm³.

7. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that it subjects said articles to at least a first and a second treatment for the deposition of at least a first and a second coloured metallic layer.

8. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said article is textile.

9. Process of surface finishing and colouration of an article according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterised in that said textile article is in synthetic fibre.

10. Textile article obtained by means of a process in accordance with one or more of the preceding claims .

11. Process of surface finishing an article and resulting article as described and claimed.