Process for obtaining a substrate provided with a coating

• US 10,301,712 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2014
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Saint-Gobain Glass France (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain)
• Original Assignee: Saint-Gobain Glass France (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain)
• Inventors: Nadaud, Nicolas, Mimoun, Emmanuel, Dubost, Brice
• Primary Examiner(s): Turocy, David P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mayy, Mohammad
• Application Number:
  US14/893,421
• Publication Number:
  US 20160168679A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,833 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/50 Inorganic material, e.g. metals, not provided for in B23K2103/02 – B23K2103/26
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0006 taking account of the properties of the material involved B23K26/32, B23K26/40 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0604 by a combination of beams
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0624 using ultrashort pulses, i.e. pulses of 1ns or less
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0626 Energy control of the laser beam B23K26/0622 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/064 by means of optical elements, e.g. lenses, mirrors or prisms
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/0738 into a linear shape
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/08 Devices involving relative movement between laser beam and workpiece
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/352 for surface treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 17/09 by deposition from the vapour phase
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2217/258 Ti, Zr, Hf
• CPC Class Codes: C03C 2218/328 Partly or completely removing a coating
• CPC Class Codes: C21D 1/34 Methods of heating C21D1/06 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: C21D 9/0068 for particular articles not mentioned below
• CPC Class Codes: C22F 1/183 of titanium or alloys based thereon

Abstract

A process for obtaining a substrate provided with a coating, in which the coating includes a pattern with spatial modulation of at least one property of the coating, includes performing a heat treatment, using a laser radiation, of a continuous coating deposited on the substrate. The heat treatment is such that the substrate is irradiated with the laser radiation focused on the coating in the form of at least one laser line, keeping the coating continuous and without melting of the coating, and a relative displacement of the substrate and of the laser line focused on the coating is imposed in a direction transverse to the longitudinal direction of the laser line, while temporally modulating during this relative displacement the power of the laser line as a function of the speed of relative displacement and of the dimensions of the pattern in the direction of relative displacement.

Claims

1. A process for obtaining a substrate provided, on at least part of at least one of its faces, with a coating comprising a pattern with spatial modulation of at least one property of the coating, the process comprising performing a heat treatment, using a laser radiation, of a continuous coating deposited on the substrate, in which the coating before heat treatment at least partially absorbs the laser radiation, the heat treatment being such that the substrate is irradiated with the laser radiation focused on the coating in the form of at least one laser line, keeping the coating continuous and without melting the coating, and during said heat treatment a relative displacement of the substrate and of the laser line focused on the coating in a direction transverse to a longitudinal direction of the laser line is performed while temporally modulating during the relative displacement a power of the laser line as a function of a speed of the relative displacement and of dimensions of the pattern in the relative displacement direction,

wherein the power of the laser line is temporally modulated by temporally modulating an input electrical signal of each laser source forming the laser line, and

wherein the laser line is formed using several independent laser sources, the temporal modulation of the input electrical signal being different from one laser source to another forming the laser line during the relative displacement.

2. The process according to claim 1, wherein the coating before heat treatment is monolayer.

3. The process according to claim 1, wherein the coating before heat treatment is a stack of layers, of which at least one layer at least partially absorbs the laser radiation.

4. The process according to claim 1, wherein the coating before heat treatment comprises at least one layer based on at least one metal, metalloid, oxide, nitride, carbide, sulfide, or any mixture thereof.

5. The process according to claim 1, wherein the longitudinal direction of the laser line is substantially perpendicular to the direction of relative displacement.

6. The process according to claim 1, wherein the laser line is fixed and the substrate is moved in translation in a transverse direction relative to the longitudinal direction of the laser line.

7. The process according to claim 1, wherein the pattern has a spatial periodicity and the frequency of temporal modulation of the input electrical signal of the laser source is equal to a ratio of the speed of relative displacement between the substrate and the laser line to the period of the pattern.

8. The process according to claim 1, wherein the temporal modulation of the input electrical signal of the laser source varies during the relative displacement of the substrate and of the laser line.

9. The process according to claim 1, wherein the laser line has a mean width of between 10 μ

m and 1000 μ

m.

10. The process according to claim 9, wherein the mean width is between 30 μ

m and 200 μ

m.

11. The process according to claim 1, wherein the mean power per unit area of the laser line in a focal plane is greater than or equal to 10³ W/cm².

12. The process according to claim 1, wherein each laser source forming the laser line is a continuous or quasi-continuous source.

13. The process according to claim 1, wherein each laser source forming the laser line is a pulsed source and the power of the emitted pulses is temporally modulated.

14. The process according to claim 1, wherein the laser line is fixed and the substrate has at least one first dimension and one second dimension which are mutually transverse, the process comprising at least one first step and one second step such that:

in the first step, the substrate is moved in translation parallel to the first dimension and transversely to the longitudinal direction of the laser line, and the power of the laser line is temporally modulated;

in the second step, the substrate is moved in translation parallel to the second dimension and transversely to the longitudinal direction of the laser line, and the power of the laser line is temporally modulated.

15. The process according to claim 1, wherein the speed of relative displacement is at least 3 meters per minute.

16. The process according to claim 1, wherein, during the heat treatment, the temperature of the face of the substrate that is opposite from the treated coating is less than or equal to 100°

C.

17. The process according to claim 16, wherein, during the heat treatment, the temperature of the face of the substrate that is opposite from the treated coating is less than or equal to 50°

C.

18. The process according to claim 17, wherein, during the heat treatment, the temperature of the face of the substrate that is opposite from the treated coating is less than or equal to 30°

C.

19. The process according to claim 1, wherein the coating, once treated, comprises a pattern with spatial modulation of at least one property from among electrical conductivity, emissivity, radiation transmission, radiation reflection, radiation absorption, haze, colorimetric coordinates, hydrophilicity, photocatalytic activity of the coating.

20. The process according to claim 1, comprising, prior to performing the heat treatment, a depositing each layer of the coating onto the substrate.

21. A process for obtaining a substrate provided, on at least part of at least one of its faces, with a coating comprising a pattern with spatial modulation of at least one property of the coating, the process comprising performing a heat treatment, using a laser radiation, of a continuous coating deposited on the substrate, in which the coating before heat treatment at least partially absorbs the laser radiation, the heat treatment being such that the substrate is irradiated with the laser radiation focused on the coating in the form of at least one laser line, keeping the coating continuous and without melting the coating, and during said heat treatment a relative displacement of the substrate and of the laser line focused on the coating in a direction transverse to a longitudinal direction of the laser line is performed while temporally modulating during the relative displacement a power of the laser line as a function of a speed of the relative displacement and of dimensions of the pattern in the relative displacement direction,

wherein the laser line is formed using several independent laser sources that are controlled during the relative displacement so that the temporal modulation of the power of the laser line varies along the laser line during said displacement, thereby modulating the at least one property of the coating in a longitudinal direction of the laser line.

22. The process according to claim 21, wherein the power of the laser line is temporally modulated by temporally modulating an input electrical signal of each laser source forming the laser line.