Metalized plastic articles and methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9103020-B2
Application number	US-95090410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 19, 2010
Priority date	Feb 26, 2010
Publication date	Aug 11, 2015
Grant date	Aug 11, 2015

Abstract

Metalized plastic substrates, and methods thereof are provided herein. The method includes providing a plastic having a plurality of accelerators dispersed in the plastic. The accelerators have a formula AM x B y O z , in which A is one or more elements selected from groups 10 and 11 of the Element Periodic Table; M is one or more metal elements in three plus selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Mn, Al, Ga, In, Tl, and rare earth elements; and O is oxygen; and x=0-2, y=0.01-2; z=1-4; and the accelerators further have a formula A′M′ m O n , in which A′ is one or more elements selected from groups 9, 10, and 11 of the periodic table; M is one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Cr, Mo, W, Se, Te, and Po; and O is oxygen; and m=0.01-2; n=2-4. The method includes the step of irradiating a surface of plastic substrate to expose at least a first accelerator. The method further includes plating the irradiated surface of the plastic substrate to form at least a first metal layer on the at least first accelerator, and then plating the first metal layer to form at least a second metal layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of metalizing a plastic substrate comprising:
providing a plastic substrate comprising a plastic and a plurality of accelerators dispersed in the plastic, the plurality of accelerators being of a formula AM x B y O z , wherein A is one or more elements selected from groups 10 and 11 of the Element Periodic Table; M is one or more metal elements in three plus selected from the group consisting of Fe, Co, Mn, Al, Ga, In, Tl, and rare earth elements; B is boron and O is oxygen; and x=0-2, y=0.01-2, and z=1-4;
irradiating a surface of the plastic substrate with an infrared laser to expose at least a first accelerator;
plating the irradiated surface of the plastic substrate to form at least a first metal layer on the at least first accelerator, wherein the first metal layer is electrochemically or chemically plated.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plastic substrate is provided by a molding process selected from the group consisting of injection molding, blow molding, extraction molding, and hot press molding.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plastic is selected from the group consisting of a thermoplastic and a thermoset; the plurality of accelerators are evenly distributed throughout the plastic; the irradiated surface of the plastic substrate is copper-plated or nickel plated; and the surface of the plastic substrate is irradiated by exposure to a laser radiation, wherein the method further comprising plating the first metal layer to form at least a second metal layer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the laser radiation has a wave length of about 10.6 microns.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the metal layers have a structure selected from the group consisting of a layer of Ni, a layer of Cu on the layer of Ni, and a layer of Ni on the layer of Cu; a layer of Ni, a layer of Cu on the layer of Ni, and a second layer of Ni on the layer of Cu, and a layer of Au on the second layer of Ni; a layer of Ni, a layer of Cu on the layer of Ni; and a layer of Cu, a layer of Ni on the layer of Cu, and a layer of Au on the layer of Ni.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the nickel layers each have a thickness ranging from about 0.1 microns to about 50 microns; the copper layers each have a thickness ranging from about 0.1 microns to about 100 microns; and the gold layers each have a thickness ranging from about 0.01 microns to about 10 microns.

7. The method of claim 3 , wherein: the thermoplastic plastic is selected from the group consisting of polyolefins, polycarbonates, polyesters, polyamides, polyaromatic ethers, polyester-imides, polycarbonate/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene composite, polyphenylene oxide, polyphenylene sulfide, polyimides, polysulfones, poly (ether ether ketone), polybenzimidazole, liquid crystalline polymer and any combination thereof; and the thermoset is selected from the group consisting of phenolic resin, urea-formaldehyde resin, melamine-formaldehyde resin, epoxy resin, alkyd resin, polyurethane and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of accelerators each have an average diameter ranging from about 20 nanometers to about 100 microns.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of accelerators of a formula of AM x B y O z are selected from the group consisting of: CuFe 0.5 B 0.5 O 2.5 , CuAl 0.5 B 0.5 O 2.5 , CuGa 0.5 B 0.5 O 2.5 , CuB 2 O 4 , and CuB 0.7 O 2 .

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of accelerators are about 1 wt % to about 40 wt % of the plastic substrate.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plastic substrate further comprises at least one additive selected from the group consisting of: an antioxidant, a light stabilizer, a lubricant, and inorganic fillers.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating a surface of the plastic substrate comprises irradiating the surface of the plastic substrate with a laser radiation having a power of about 3 watts to about 4 watts.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein irradiating a surface of the plastic substrate comprises irradiating the surface of the plastic substrate with a laser radiation having a frequency of about 30 kilohertz to about 40 kilohertz.

Assignees

• Gong Qing
• Zhou Liang
• Miao Weifeng
• Zhang Xiong
• Byd Co Ltd

Inventors

• Gong Qing
• Zhou Liang
• Miao Weifeng
• Zhang Xiong

Classifications

• Y10T428/12569

  Synthetic resin · CPC title

• C23C18/1641

  Organic substrates, e.g. resin, plastic · CPC title

• C23C18/1653

  Two or more layers with at least one layer obtained by electroless plating and one layer obtained by electroplating · CPC title

• C23C18/204 Primary

  Radiation, e.g. UV, laser · CPC title

• C25D5/56

  of plastics · CPC title