Stainless substrate having a gold-plating layer, and process of forming a partial gold-plating pattern on a stainless substrate

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10017862-B2
Application number	US-201414339152-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 23, 2014
Priority date	Feb 9, 2011
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

The process of forming a partial gold-plating pattern on a stainless substrate includes a first plating step, a second plating step, and a stripping step. In the first plating step, pretreatment is applied to a stainless substrate including opposite main planes and a processing site formed of a plane different from the main planes, after which a first gold-plating layer is formed all over the surface of the stainless substrate using a hydrochloric acid plating solution. In the second plating step, mask plating is used to form a second gold-plating layer on the first gold-plating layer that covers the processing site in a desired pattern, and in the stripping step, a portion of the first gold-plating layer in an area where there is none of the second gold-plating layer is stripped off using an alkaline stripping solution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A stainless substrate comprising:
opposite main planes having uncoated surfaces;
a processing site, including a through-hole, on a plane different from the main planes; and
a gold-plating layer having a thickness in a range of 0.15 to 0.25 μm on an entire surface of the through-hole,
wherein no gold-plating layer is provided on the main planes.

2. The stainless substrate as recited in claim 1 , obtained by a process comprising:
applying pretreatment to a stainless steel substrate including the opposite main planes and processing site;
forming a first gold-plating layer all over the surface of the stainless steel substrate using a hydrochloric acid plating solution;
forming a second gold-plating layer on the first gold-plating layer that covers the processing site in a pattern by mask plating; and
stripping off a portion of the first gold-plating layer in an area where there is none of the second gold-plating layer using an alkaline stripping solution in order to form the gold-plating layer having the thickness in the range of 0.15 to 0.25 μm on the entire surface of the through-hole.

3. The stainless substrate as recited in claim 1 , obtained by a process comprising:
applying pretreatment to a stainless steel substrate including the opposite main planes and processing site;
forming a resist pattern on the stainless steel substrate so as to expose a region including at least the processing site;
forming a first gold-plating layer on an exposed surface of the stainless steel substrate using a hydrochloric acid plating solution;
forming a second gold-plating layer on the first gold-plating layer that covers the processing site in a pattern by mask plating; and
stripping off a portion of the first gold-plating layer in an area where there is none of the second gold-plating layer using an alkaline stripping solution in order to form the gold-plating layer having the thickness in the range of 0.15 to 0.25 μm on the entire surface of the through-hole.

4. A product comprising the stainless substrate as recited in claim 1 , wherein the product is selected from the group consisting of connectors, fuel cells, hard disk suspensions, and inkjets.

5. The stainless substrate as recited in claim 1 , wherein the gold-plating layer has a laminated structure including a first gold-plating layer on the entire surface of the through-hole and a second gold-plating layer on the first gold-plating layer.

6. The stainless substrate as recited in claim 5 , wherein the first gold-plating layer has a thickness in the range of 0.010 to 0.15 μm.

7. A stainless substrate comprising:
opposite main planes having uncoated surfaces;
a processing site on a plane different from the main planes that includes a combination of a recess and a through-hole; and
a gold-plating layer having a thickness in a range of 0.15 to 0.25 μm on an entire surface of the combination of the recess and the through-hole,
wherein no gold-plating layer is provided on the main planes.

8. The stainless substrate as recited in claim 7 , comprising a framework and a plurality of product regions that are joined to the framework, wherein individual product regions include the processing site.

9. The stainless substrate as recited in claim 7 , wherein the gold-plating layer has a laminated structure including a first gold-plating layer on the entire surface of the combination of the recess and the through-hole, and a second gold-plating layer on the first gold-plating layer.

10. A product comprising a stainless substrate that includes:
opposite main planes having uncoated surfaces;
a processing site, including a through-hole, on a plane different from the main planes; and
a gold-plating layer having a thickness in a range of 0.15 to 1 μm on an entire surface of the through-hole, wherein:
no gold-plating layer is provided on the main planes; and
the product is selected from the group consisting of connectors, fuel cells, hard disk suspensions, and inkjets.

Assignees

• Dainippon Printing Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nagata Masahiro

Classifications

• B05D3/107

  Post-treatment of applied coatings · CPC title

• Y10T428/12389

  having variation in thickness · CPC title

• C23F1/44

  Compositions for etching metallic material from a metallic material substrate of different composition · CPC title

• Y10T428/12889

  Au-base component · CPC title

• C25D5/36

  of iron or steel · CPC title