JPS6124464B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a vacuum plating device used in vacuum evaporation methods, ion plating methods, etc., in which a plating metal vapor flow is continuously flown in a stable state onto the surface of a material to be plated for a long time. The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for accumulating a metal layer with a uniform thickness on the surface of a material to be plated.

Conventionally, the vacuum plating method involves condensing high melting point plating metal vapor such as Co and Co alloys on the surface of a continuous material to be plated, such as steel strip or resin film, in a vacuum to form a metal film, but the following problems have occurred: It was hot.

That is, the plating metal vapor flow scatters radially around the crucible, a part of which reaches the surface of the material to be plated, and vacuum plating is performed. In addition, the remaining metal vapor flow flies to the attached equipment in the vacuum chamber and adheres to the surface thereof, at the same time imparting a heat load. Therefore, the auxiliary equipment within the vacuum chamber receives a heat load due to this heat load and radiant heat from the crucible surface. Therefore, in order to prevent thermal deformation due to heat load, the attached equipment inside the vacuum chamber has been cooled by circulating water using water-cooled pipes or water-cooled jackets.
Generally, the adhesion of the vapor deposited layer to the low-temperature surface is weak, so that the adhesion of the vapor deposited layer formed on the surface of the equipment attached to the vacuum chamber is low. Furthermore, in vacuum plating equipment used in production that continuously performs vapor deposition on the surface of the material to be plated over a long period of time, a vapor deposition layer with weak adhesion is formed on the surface of the attached equipment in the vacuum chamber due to the low temperature of the surface. , metal vapor continues to fly in, increasing the thickness of the deposited layer. When the weight of the vapor-deposited layer and the adhesion force reach an equilibrium state, the vapor-deposited layer accumulated on the attached equipment in the vacuum chamber becomes lumpy, peels off from the surface, and falls. If this lumpy vapor deposition layer mixes into the molten metal in the crucible that is the metal vapor generation source, or covers the evaporation surface of the crucible, the distribution of the vapor flow of the metal vapor generated from the crucible evaporation surface will be disturbed. As a result, the thickness of the vapor deposited layer adhering to the surface of the material to be plated varies greatly.

Therefore, in order to maintain the normal quality of vacuum plating of materials to be plated, it is necessary to prevent the deposited layer accumulated on the surface of the attached equipment in the vacuum chamber from falling during deposition and to stabilize the metal evaporation surface of the crucible. I needed to figure it out.

Conventionally, countermeasures against this problem include controlling the temperature of the cooling part of the vacuum chamber accessory equipment, or installing a cover 4 made of a metal plate at a certain distance from the surface of the cooling part 3 of the accessory equipment, as shown in FIG. , prevent metal vapor from accumulating on the surface of the attached equipment cooling section 3 in the vacuum chamber 1,
Some studies have been conducted to accumulate the heat on the surface of the cover 4, but in the former case, it is difficult to control the temperature against changes in heat capacity on the surface of the cooling section 3 of the attached equipment due to the heat load caused by flying metal vapor and the radiant heat from the evaporation surface of the crucible. In addition, it is difficult to remove the deposited layer accumulated on the cooling section 3 of the attached equipment inside the vacuum chamber 1 during maintenance after completion of vacuum plating, resulting in a decrease in the operating rate. In addition, the latter has a cover 4 made of a metal plate fixed, and the cover 4
The heat load of the metal vapor flow flying above and the crucible 5
Since the cover 4 receives radiant heat from the evaporation surface 5a, this large heat load causes large thermal deformation of the cover 4, which may damage the attached equipment arranged in the vacuum chamber 1 or change the distribution of the plating metal vapor flow. However, this method has the disadvantage that there is a risk of changing the thickness of the plating film on the surface of the material 2 to be plated.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and prevents the deposited layer of metal vapor flow adhering to the surface of attached equipment in the vacuum chamber other than the material to be plated from falling onto the crucible evaporation surface etc. during vacuum plating operation. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for preventing such problems and enabling continuous long-term vacuum plating operations.

Examples thereof will be described below based on FIGS. 2 and 3. 1 is an airtight vacuum chamber made of stainless steel;
2 is a material to be plated which is a resin film; 7a is an unwinding roller for supplying the material 2 to be plated during continuous vacuum plating operation; and 7b is a housing for storing the material 2 to be plated after vacuum plating. 8 is a conveying roller for conveying the plated material 2; 3 is a cooled accessory equipment; 5 is a crucible for generating metal vapor; 5a is its evaporation surface; 6 is a cover made of foamed metal (made by applying electroless nickel plating to spongy rubber, for example, and then removing the rubber by chemical conversion treatment).

In the above configuration, since the cover 6 is foamed, there is very little heat conduction at the contact part with the surface of the cooled accessory equipment 3, so the surface temperature of the cover 6 decreases rapidly immediately after vacuum plating starts. rise to Further, since the surface of the cover 6 has unevenness, a strong adhesion force is generated at the interface between the surface of the cover 6 and the vapor deposited layer accumulated on the surface of the cover 6. Therefore, the vacuum plating layer accumulated on the surface of the cover 6 does not fall in chunks onto the evaporation surface 5a of the crucible 5 even during continuous vacuum plating for a long time, and the vacuum plating layer on the evaporation surface 5a does not fall in the form of a lump. It becomes possible to stabilize the evaporation distribution of metal vapor. Also, cover 6
The cover 6 is subjected to a large heat load due to the radiant heat from the evaporation surface 5a and the flying metal vapor flow, but the cover 6
Since it is a metal in a foamed state, the heat load on the cover 6 is distributed and received within the cover 6, and the distributed heat load is absorbed for each foaming within the cover 6, and the material deforms plastically for each foaming. Therefore, the deformation of the cover 6 as a whole has two major advantages: it is very small, and continuous and long-term vacuum plating operations can be performed stably. In addition, since a large amount of vacuum plating layer is formed on the surface of the cover 6, if the material of the cover 6 is made of the same composition as the evaporation material in the crucible 5, the cover 6 can be recovered from the vacuum chamber 1 as it is. ,
For example, it can also have the advantage of being easily put into a state where it can be recycled in a regeneration melting furnace.

As described above, according to the present invention, when performing vacuum plating continuously for a long period of time, the evaporation surface can be stabilized, and the surface of the material to be plated can be prevented by flying metal vapor toward the surface of the material to be plated. This has the great effect of stably making the thickness of the vacuum plating layer formed on the film stable and uniform.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a sectional view showing a conventional vacuum plating device.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a vacuum plating device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a cover of the same device. 1... Vacuum chamber, 2... Material to be plated, 3... Attached equipment, 6... Cover.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A vacuum chamber that maintains a vacuum state, an evaporation material provided in the vacuum chamber that is heated and scattered, and adheres to a predetermined material to be plated, and a material provided between the evaporation material and the material to be plated, 1. A vacuum plating device comprising: accessory equipment for protecting the material to be plated from the heat of the evaporation material; and a cover provided on the evaporation material side of the accessory equipment and made of a foamed metal plate.