JP5854875B2 - Electroformed parts - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method for producing an electroformed part by electroplating and an electroformed part.

  In general, the production of electroformed parts by electroforming is performed as follows. First, by using a mold having the same shape as a desired part called a prototype, this shape is transferred to a resin or the like to which this shape can be transferred to form an electroforming mold. Next, an electroformed body is formed by applying a conductive film to the electroforming mold by a metallizing method such as silver mirror reaction and vapor deposition, which can be easily peeled off, and electroforming the surface by wet plating. This electroformed body is mechanically or chemically separated from the electroforming mold after electroforming, and is subjected to post-processing as necessary, so that a desired electroformed part is obtained.

  However, in this electroforming method, in the concave portion provided in the electroforming mold, the growth of the plating film at the time of electroforming is faster at the side portion and the upper portion than at the bottom portion. May cause a tear at the top. In particular, this phenomenon is conspicuous for a high aspect product in which the ratio of the depth to the width of the concave portion is large, so that the range of application of the electroformed component is limited. In particular, nickel and nickel alloys, which are most widely used as electroformed parts, are prone to the phenomenon described above because of the rapid growth of plating in and around the recesses, so the scope of application to high aspect products is extremely limited. In many cases, the surface has a crack or a crack-like defect.

  On the other hand, for example, an electroforming method is employed in which a conductive substrate is coated with a photoresist, an electroforming mold is produced by providing an opening in the photoresist by photolithography, and plating is grown only from the bottom of the opening. Yes. According to this method, since the growth of plating is only in one direction from the bottom, defects such as wrinkles and tears as in electroforming by the transfer method do not occur.

  Furthermore, in recent years, in order to improve electroforming accuracy by photolithography, an electroforming mold is manufactured by a LIGA (Lithography Galvanoforming Abforming) method in which a photosensitive material is used to form an electroforming mold using a silicon process, and a minute shape is also formed. It has been proposed to manufacture parts and molds having the same (for example, see Patent Document 1). In the production of an electroforming mold by the LIGA method, an exposure method using X-rays and an exposure method using ultraviolet rays are performed.

  However, in electroforming by photolithography including the LIGA method, photoresist and manufacturing equipment are expensive, the manufacturing process is long, and it is not suitable for mass production compared to the transfer method. It was disadvantageous in terms of cost.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-15126

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and is manufactured by an electroforming method using a transfer mold, and manufacturing an electroformed component that prevents the formation of defects such as wrinkles and tears in nickel or a nickel alloy. The object is to provide a method and an electroformed part.

The present invention employs the following means in order to solve the above problems.
A method for producing an electroformed part according to the present invention is a method for producing an electroformed part formed by laminating a plurality of electroformed layers, wherein nickel or nickel is applied to an electroform made of an insulating material having a conductive layer formed on a surface thereof. A step of forming a first electroformed layer made of an alloy, and a second electroformed layer made of copper having a smaller volume as the layer than the first electroformed layer on the surface of the first electroformed layer Forming the step.

  This method for producing an electroformed part is a method for producing an electroformed part mainly composed of nickel or a nickel alloy using an electroforming mold having a conductive layer formed on the surface thereof, on the surface of an insulating mold such as a resin. Since the conductive metal film is formed, a conductive mold can be easily provided, and the first electroformed layer made of nickel or nickel alloy is formed on the entire surface forming the mold, and the recess opening is formed. In order to form a second electroformed layer by copper or copper plating that has a hole filling effect before closing the entrance of the part, there is no defect such as a gap or a crack at the entrance of the recessed part, and the mold and the conductive metal film are removed. By performing post-processing as necessary, it is possible to provide an electroformed part free of voids and cracks.

In the electroformed component manufacturing method according to the present invention, the electroforming mold is entirely or partially made of a resin.
The method for manufacturing an electroformed component according to the present invention further includes a step of forming a third electroformed layer made of nickel or a nickel alloy on the surface of the second electroformed layer.

  This method for producing an electroformed part is a method for producing an electroformed part mainly composed of nickel or a nickel alloy using an electroforming mold made of a resin having a conductive layer formed on its surface, and has an insulating property such as a resin. Since the conductive metal film is formed on the surface of the mold, a conductive mold can be easily provided, and the first electroformed layer made of nickel or nickel alloy is formed on the entire surface forming the mold. In order to form the second electroformed layer by copper or copper plating having a hole filling effect before closing the entrance of the recess opening, there is no defect in the recess such as a gap or a tear at the entrance of the recess, and the second electric By forming a third electroformed layer made of nickel or a nickel alloy on the copper plating layer, which is a cast layer, removing the mold and the conductive metal film, and performing post-processing as necessary, pores and A crack-like defect Ku, 且, the strength of the first and third electroforming layer provides excellent electroformed component strength for high possible.

Further, in the method for manufacturing an electroformed component according to the present invention, the deepest portion of the electroforming mold among the boundary surfaces between the second electroformed layer and the third electroformed layer is inside the recess. Features.
In this electroformed component manufacturing method, since the deepest portion of the boundary between the second electroformed layer and the third electroformed layer is in the recessed portion in the electroformed recess, the electroforming is performed by post-processing after electroforming. When an extra electroformed part is removed in the middle of the concave part of the mold or from the upper end part of the concave part, an electroformed part having excellent strength can be provided because it has a three-layer structure.

Further, in the electroformed component according to the present invention, the first electroformed layer made of nickel or a nickel alloy is formed on the surface of the first electroformed layer, and the layer is more layered than the first electroformed layer. A second electroformed layer made of copper having a small volume is laminated.
In the electroformed component according to the present invention, a third electroformed layer made of nickel or a nickel alloy is laminated on the surface of the second electroformed layer.

Further, in the electroformed component according to the present invention, the first electroformed layer has a concave portion on an upper surface, and the second electroformed layer is laminated on the concave portion, and the second electroformed layer and The deepest portion of the boundary surface of the third electroformed layer is inside the recess.
In the electroformed component according to the present invention, the surface of the third electroformed layer is covered with a nickel plating layer.

  According to the present invention, there is provided an electroformed component manufacturing method and an electroformed component which are produced by an electroforming method using a transfer die and which are formed of nickel or a nickel alloy and prevent formation of defects such as wrinkles and tears. Can do.

It is a figure which shows the cross section of the electroformed component produced by the manufacturing method of the electroformed component concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process of forming a conductive layer in a type | mold among the manufacturing methods of the electroformed component which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process of forming the 1st electroformed layer, the 2nd electroformed layer, and the 3rd electroformed layer among the manufacturing methods of the electroformed component concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process of processing the surface of an electroformed body and isolate | separating an electroformed part from an electroforming mold among the manufacturing methods of the electroformed part which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the process of plating on the surface of an electroformed component among the manufacturing methods of the electroformed component which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a view showing a cross section of an electroformed part such as a gear or a spring part for constituting a movement of a mechanical wristwatch produced by a method for producing an electroformed part according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The electroformed component 1 includes a first electroformed layer 9 made of nickel, a second electroformed layer 10 made of copper having a smaller volume than the first electroformed layer 9, and a third made of nickel. And a nickel plating layer 14 made of electroless nickel containing phosphorus covering the first electroformed layer 9, the second electroformed layer 10, and the third electroformed layer 12. Has been.

  The electroformed component 1 having such a structure includes a step of forming a conductive layer 7 shown in FIG. 2B on the mold 6 shown in FIG. 2A and a first step shown in FIG. 4 (a) and 4 (b), forming the second electroformed layer 9 shown in FIG. 3 (b) and the third electroformed layer 12 shown in FIG. 3 (c). It is manufactured by processing the surface of the electroformed body 13 shown and separating the electroformed component 14 from the electroforming mold 8 and plating the surface of the electroformed component 14 shown in FIG.

  The mold 6 shown in FIG. 2A is made of, for example, an insulating material such as wax or a resin material, and is a means such as stamping using a prototype produced by machining or LIGA, photo-molding or photo-molding using a photosensitive resin. It is produced by lithography or the like.

  Then, as shown in FIG. 2 (b), at least the bottom surface and the side surface of the recess 6a, which is a portion in which a desired electroformed part is to be formed, and the surface 6 to be electrically connected to the mold 6 are formed. An electroforming mold 8 is produced by forming a peelable conductive layer 7 on the upper surface of the substrate by silver mirror reaction, electroless plating, vacuum plating or the like.

Next, as shown in FIGS. 3A to 3C, a first electroformed layer 9, a second electroformed layer 10, and a third electroformed layer 12 are sequentially formed.
First, the first electroformed layer 9 shown in FIG. 3A is formed by electroforming using a nickel sulfamate electroforming solution. Here, the first electroformed layer 9 deposited from the electroforming liquid grows substantially parallel to the contour of the electroforming mold 8. Therefore, the first electroformed layer 9 has almost no so-called hole filling effect that completely fills the recess 6a, and when electrocasting to the end, voids and gaps are formed in the recess. Therefore, the thickness of the first electroformed layer 9 is set to 1/3 or less of the opening diameter of the concave portion of the electroforming mold 8.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 3B, a second electroformed layer 10 is formed on the surface of the first electroformed layer 9 using a copper plating solution for filled vias mainly composed of copper sulfate. The copper electroforming that constitutes the second electroformed layer 10 is different from the nickel electroforming that constitutes the first electroformed layer 9, and grows fastest on the bottom surface of the recess 9a, and near the opening of the recess 9a. Because of its slow growth, it has a characteristic of high filling performance. The thickness of the second electroformed layer 10 as a plating is determined according to required properties such as the strength and spring property of the final electroformed component 1, and the third electroformed layer 12 has voids and gaps. It is sufficient that it does not cause the above. Here, when the third electroformed layer 12 is formed as in this embodiment, the sum of the thickness of the first electroformed layer 9 and the thickness of the second electroformed layer 10 is desired. It is necessary to make it thinner than the thickness of the component 1. Therefore, the position of the deepest portion 11 in the recess 10a of the second electroformed layer 10 needs to be inside the recess when the upper portion from the recess 10a is removed by post-processing.

Next, as shown in FIG. 3C, a third electroformed layer 12 made of nickel is formed on the surface of the second electroformed layer 10 using the same electroforming liquid as the first electroformed layer 9. Thus, the electroformed body 13 is provided.
Next, as shown in FIG. 4A, in the step of processing the surface of the electroformed body 13 shown in FIG. A portion outside the size of the concave portion of the mold 8 protruding from the concave portion and the concave portion are removed, and the electroformed mold 8 is mechanically removed to obtain the electroformed body 13 shown in FIG. In the present embodiment, the first electroformed layer 9 and the third electroformed layer 12 are made of nickel. However, for example, they may be made of a nickel alloy, for example.

Next, as shown in FIG. 5, in the step of plating the surface of the electroformed body 13 shown in FIG. 4B, after the electroformed body 13 is appropriately pretreated, the phosphorous electroless nickel plating solution is used. The nickel plating layer 14 is formed by charging, and the desired electroformed part 1 is produced.
The electroformed part 1 which is a mechanical wristwatch move part manufactured in this way is formed with a second electroformed layer 10 by performing copper electroforming with excellent hole filling properties, and thus has a wrinkle or tear shape. The formation of defects can be suitably prevented. Furthermore, the electroformed component 1 is formed by nickel electroforming having excellent strength, like the first electroformed layer 9 and the third electroformed layer 12, and therefore requires the required mechanical properties. It will have sufficient strength.

  In the present embodiment, the third electroformed layer 12 made of nickel electroforming is formed in order to increase the mechanical strength. However, if the component does not require the same strength as the mechanical watch mover component, It is not necessary to form the third electroformed layer 12 by increasing the thickness of the second electroformed layer 10.

  As described above, according to the method for producing an electroformed component according to the present invention, an electroformed component free of voids, accuracy, and gap-like defects that cause problems in appearance is provided at low cost and in large quantities. Can do.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Electroformed part 9 1st electroformed layer 10 2nd electroformed layer 12 3rd electroformed layer 14 Nickel plating layer 6 Type 7 Conductive layer 8 Electroforming mold 11 Deepest part 13 Electroformed body

Claims (2)

A first electroformed layer made of nickel or a nickel alloy, and a second electroformed layer made of copper, which is formed on the surface of the first electroformed layer and has a smaller volume than the first electroformed layer. Layered, and
A third electroformed layer made of nickel or a nickel alloy is laminated on the surface of the second electroformed layer;
An electroformed component having a shape in a concave portion of an electroforming mold and having a surface covered with a nickel plating layer. The first electroformed layer has a concave portion on the upper surface, and the second electroformed layer is laminated on the concave portion, and a boundary surface between the second electroformed layer and the third electroformed layer is formed. 2. The electroformed component according to claim 1, wherein the deepest portion is inside the concave portion.

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