US2002146597A1PendingUtilityA1

Low pressure coated article having the appearance of stainless steel

43
Priority: Apr 5, 2001Filed: Dec 19, 2001Published: Oct 10, 2002
Est. expiryApr 5, 2021(expired)· nominal 20-yr term from priority
Inventors:Guocun Chen
C23C 28/34C23C 28/3455C23C 28/322C23C 14/0021C23C 28/36C23C 28/42C23C 28/347C23C 14/0073C09C 1/66C23C 28/321C23C 14/0015Y10T428/12542Y10T428/12708Y10T428/12847Y10T428/12618Y10T428/12535Y10T428/12993Y10T428/1291Y10T428/12576Y10T428/1259Y10T428/12549Y10T428/12826Y10T428/12611Y10T428/12583Y10T428/12944Y10T428/12854Y10T428/12861Y10T428/12722Y10T428/12806C01P 2004/84
43
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Claims

Abstract

An article is coated with a multi-layer decorative and protective coating having the appearance of stainless steel. The coating comprises one or more electroplated layers on the surface of said article and vapor deposited on the electroplated layers a stack layer containing layers of refractory metal or metal alloy alternating with layers containing the reaction products of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen, and on said stack layer vapor deposited at relatively low pressure a decorative and protective color layer comprised of the reaction products of a refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen wherein the total nitrogen and oxygen content of these reaction products is from about 4 to about 32 atomic percent with the nitrogen content being at least about 3 atomic percent.

Claims

exact text as granted — not AI-modified
I claim:  
     
         1 . An article having on at least a portion of its surface a protective and decorative coating having the appearance of stainless steel comprising: 
 at least one layer comprised of nickel;    a stack layer comprised of layers comprised of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy alternating with layers comprised of reaction products of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen;    vapor deposited at relatively low pressure of below about 8 millitorr a color layer comprised of reaction products of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen, wherein the total nitrogen and oxygen content of said reaction products of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy, nitrogen and oxygen are each from about 4 to about 32 atomic percent with the nitrogen content being at least about 3 atomic percent.    
     
     
         2 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said nitrogen and oxygen content are each from about 5 to about 28 atomic percent with the nitrogen content being at least about 4 atomic percent.  
     
     
         3 . The article of  claim 1  wherein a layer comprised of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy is on said at least one layer comprised of nickel.  
     
     
         4 . The article of  claim 1  wherein a layer comprised of refractory metal oxide or refractory metal alloy oxide is on said color layer.  
     
     
         5 . The article of  claim 3  wherein a layer comprised of refractory metal oxide or refractory metal alloy oxide is on said color layer.  
     
     
         6 . The article of  claim 1  wherein a layer comprised of chromium is on said at least one layer comprised of nickel.  
     
     
         7 . The article of  claim 6  wherein a strike layer comprised of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy is on said layer comprised of chromium.  
     
     
         8 . The article of  claim 7  wherein said stack layer is on said strike layer.  
     
     
         9 . The article of  claim 1  wherein a layer comprised of tin and nickel alloy is on said at least one layer comprised of nickel.  
     
     
         10 . The article of  claim 9  wherein a strike layer comprised of refractory metal or refractory metal alloy is on said layer comprised of tin and nickel alloy.  
     
     
         11 . The article of  claim 7  wherein said stack layer is on said strike layer.  
     
     
         12 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said at least one layer comprised of nickel is comprised of one nickel layer.  
     
     
         13 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said at least one layer comprised of nickel is comprised of two layers of nickel.  
     
     
         14 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said coating has the appearance of brushed stainless steel finish.  
     
     
         15 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said refractory metal is selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium and hafnium.  
     
     
         16 . The article of  claim 1  wherein said relatively low pressure is below about 5 millitorr.  
     
     
         17 . The article of  claim 16  wherein said relatively low pressure is below about 3 millitorr.

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