Things You Need to Know About Vacuum Metalizing
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Plastic parts can be coated with metal through a process called metallization for both aesthetic and mechanical purposes. The metal coated piece of plastic features increases the reflectivity as well as the gloss. Abrasion resistance and the electric conductivity which are not the usual features of plastic are easily obtainable through the process of metallization. Metallized plastic components will be used in the same applications as their metal plated counterparts and the fact they are lower in weight makes them a better choice. The metallized components also have a higher corrosion resistance and are still inexpensive to manufacture. One of the most common methods used to manufacture includes vacuum metallization. Learn more about EMI coating, go here.
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Before the process begins for vacuum metallization, there is a base coat that is going to be applied on the plastic after it has been washed. The next step is metal being evaporated in a chamber known as a vacuum chamber and aluminum is used in common. There will be a vapor coming out of the chamber and that will condense on the surface of the plastic after which there will be a metal coating left after the vapor substrates. The reason why they use a vacuum chamber is so that there is no oxidation. Find out for further details right here.
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There will be application of a top coat after the physical vapor deposition and this will give the plastic non-abrasive properties. There are some precautions that can be taken to ensure that there are lesser defects during vacuum metalizing. First, ensure that there is total dust elimination because dust is the number one contributor to metalizing defects. You can eliminate dust through ensuring that there is no cardboard allowed into the metalizing room. Shoes also bring in a lot dust and so they should either be removed before entering the room or get them covered in plastic covers.
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So as avoid contamination, loading of parts on fixtures should be done with hands covered in gloves. During metalizing operations, vacuum systems encounter problems with moisture as a result of the vapor removal. If the moisture is absorbed on the substrate, there will be poor metalizing. Therefore, you can alleviate this problem by having air conditioning solving this problem as well as dehumidifiers. Lastly, only choose the good quality vacuum pump oils as these go a long way during metalizing. Getting the right oils will make sure that you have lesser maintenance in the vacuum system and this will reduce the defects. Take a look at this link https://www.britannica.com/science/vacuum-physics for more information.