Silver-plated product and method for producing same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12173425-B2
Application number	US-202117910250-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 21, 2021
Priority date	Mar 9, 2020
Publication date	Dec 24, 2024
Grant date	Dec 24, 2024

Abstract

A silver-plated product which has more excellent minute sliding abrasion resistance property than that of conventional silver-plated products, and a method for producing the same. The silver-plated product is produced by electroplating a base material 10 of copper or a copper alloy to form an underlying plating layer 12 of nickel or a nickel alloy, a first silver-plating layer of silver (lower silver-plating layer) 14 , a zinc-plating layer 16 of zinc serving as an intermediate plating layer, and a second silver-plating layer of silver (upper silver-plating layer) 18 serving as a surface layer, in this order from the base material 10.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A silver-plated product comprising:
a base material made of copper or a copper alloy;
a first silver-plating layer;
a zinc-plating layer serving as an intermediate plating layer; and
a second silver-plating layer serving as a surface layer, and
wherein the first silver-plating layer, the zinc-plating layer and the second silver-plating layer are formed in this order from the base material.

2. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said first silver-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm.

3. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said zinc-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5 μm.

4. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 1 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of said first silver-plating layer to a thickness of said zinc-plating layer is 0.1 to 10.

5. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 1 , wherein said second silver-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm.

6. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 1 , wherein an underlying plating layer is formed between said base material and said first silver-plating layer.

7. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 6 , wherein said underlying plating layer is made of nickel or a nickel alloy.

8. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 6 , wherein said underlying plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5 μm.

9. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 1 , the method comprising the steps of:
preparing a base material; and
causing the base material to have a first silver-plating layer, a zinc-plating layer serving as an intermediate plating layer, and a second silver-plating layer serving as a surface layer,
wherein the first silver-plating layer, the zinc-plating layer, and the second silver-plating layer are formed by electroplating in this order from the base material.

10. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 9 , wherein said first silver-plating layer and said second silver-plating layer are formed by electroplating in a silver-plating solution of an aqueous solution containing silver potassium cyanide, potassium cyanide and potassium selenocyanate.

11. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 9 , wherein said first silver-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm.

12. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 9 , wherein said zinc-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5 μm.

13. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 9 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of said first silver-plating layer to a thickness of said zinc-plating layer is 0.1 to 10.

14. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 9 , wherein said second silver-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm.

15. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 9 , wherein an underlying plating layer is formed by electroplating between said base material and said first silver-plating layer.

16. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 15 , wherein said underlying plating layer is made of nickel or a nickel alloy.

17. A method for producing a silver-plated product as set forth in claim 15 , wherein said underlying plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5 μm.

18. A silver-plated product comprising:
a base material;
a first silver-plating layer;
a zinc-plating layer serving as an intermediate plating layer; and
a second silver-plating layer serving as a surface layer,
wherein the first silver-plating layer, the zinc-plating layer and the second silver-plating layer are formed in this order from the base material, and
wherein the surface layer has a Vickers hardness HV of 80 to 220, the Vickers hardness HV being measured in accordance with JIS Z2244 by applying a measuring load of 10 gf for 10 seconds.

19. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 18 , wherein said first silver-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm.

20. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 18 , wherein said zinc-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5 μm.

21. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 18 , wherein a ratio of a thickness of said first silver-plating layer to a thickness of said zinc-plating layer is 0.1 to 10.

22. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 18 , wherein said second silver-plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 10 μm.

23. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 18 , wherein an underlying plating layer is formed between said base material and said first silver-plating layer.

24. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 23 , wherein said underlying plating layer is made of nickel or a nickel alloy.

25. A silver-plated product as set forth in claim 23 , wherein said underlying plating layer has a thickness of 0.1 to 5 μm.

Assignees

• Dowa Metaltech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Hirai Yutaro
• Arai Kentaro
• Sato Yosuke

Classifications

• Y10T428/24983

  Hardness · CPC title

• Y10T428/26

  Web or sheet containing structurally defined element or component, the element or component having a specified physical dimension · CPC title

• Y10T428/264

  Up to 3 mils · CPC title

• Y10T428/12875

  Platinum group metal-base component · CPC title

• Y10T428/24967

  Absolute thicknesses specified · CPC title