Corrosion-resistant coatings and methods of manufacturing the same

• US 20040076837A1
• Filed: 10/22/2002
• Published: 04/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlage Lock Company LLC (Allegion PLC)
• Original Assignee: Schlage Lock Company (Allegion PLC)
• Inventors: Knapp, Brad, Hein, Gerald F., Agnew, Greg
• Granted Patent: US 6,905,773 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 428/446
• CPC Class Codes: C23C 16/401 containing silicon
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 1/00 Knobs or handles for wings; Knobs, handles, or press buttons for locks or latches on wings E05B5/00, E05B7/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: E05B 15/16 Use of special materials for parts of locks
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/12556 Organic component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/12611 Oxide-containing component
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/265 1 mil or less

Abstract

A clear protective coating including a composition having a formula SiO_xC_yH_z, wherein x=0.8-1.5, y=1.0-2.0, and z=1.6-3.7 is provided. The coating may be formed by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The coating typically coats a substrate, and more particularly, a metal substrate. In a preferred embodiment, the coating coats an architectural hardware article, thereby providing corrosion and abrasion protection for the architectural hardware article.

Claims

1. An article comprising:

a substrate having an optically-transparent coating on at least a portion thereof, the coating comprising a composition of formula SiO_xC_yH_z, wherein x=about 0.8-1.5, y=about 1.0-2.0, and z=about 1.6-3.7.

2. The article of claim 1, wherein the coating is about 5 μ

m to about 17 μ

m thick.

3. The article of claim 1, wherein the coating protects the article from corrosion for a minimum of 200 hours when exposed to an ASTM-B117 salt-fog test.

4. The article of claim 1, wherein the article is an architectural hardware item, and the substrate comprises metal.

5. The article of claim 4, wherein the architectural hardware item is chosen from a door handle, door lever, door grip, appliance handle, hand rail, an escutcheon, a knob, trim, decorative trim hardware and combinations thereof.

6. The article of claim 1, wherein the substrate comprises at least one of brass, zinc, aluminum, steel, and chrome.

7. The article of claim 1, wherein the substrate is metal plated.

8. The article of claim 1, wherein the coating is applied to the substrate using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

9. A metal article comprising:

a metal substrate having a coating deposited thereon using physical vapor deposition (PVD), the PVD coating comprising at least one of titanium, titanium nitride, zirconium, zirconium nitride, chromium, chromium nitride, titanium-aluminum nitride, copper, copper nitride, aluminum, nickel, tin, brass, and combinations thereof, the PVD coating having an optically-transparent coating on at least a portion thereof, the optically-transparent coating comprising a composition of formula SiO_xC_yH_z, wherein x=about 0.8-1. 5, y=about 1.0-2.0, and z=about 1.6-3.7.

10. The article of claim 9, wherein the coating is about 5 μ

m to about 17 μ

m thick.

11. The article of claim 9, wherein the optically-transparent coating protects the article from corrosion for a minimum of 200 hours when exposed to an ASTM-B117 salt-fog test.

12. The article of claim 9, wherein the article is an architectural hardware item.

13. The article of claim 12, wherein the architectural hardware item is chosen from a door handle, door lever, door grip, appliance handle, hand rail, an escutcheon, knob trim, decorative trim hardware and combinations thereof.

14. The article of claim 9, wherein the metal substrate comprises at least one of zinc, aluminum, brass, chrome, and steel.

15. The article of claim 13, wherein the optically-transparent coating is applied using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.

16. A method of manufacturing an article, the method comprising:

providing an article; and

using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition to coat at least a portion of the article with an optically-transparent, corrosion-protective coating, the coating including a composition of SiO_xC_yH_z, wherein x=about 0.8-1. 5, y=about 1.0-2.0, and z=about 1.6-3.7.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the coating is formed from a chemical precursor comprising at least one of a silane, disilane, substituted silane, substituted disilane, a siloxane, and combinations thereof.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the coating is formed from a chemical precursor comprising at least one of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO), octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (OMCTS), 1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane (TMCTS), and combinations thereof.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition further comprises introducing plasma into a chamber.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the plasma is generated using electron cyclotron resonance at 2.45 GHz.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the plasma uses oxygen gas, argon gas, or combinations thereof.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising plasma pre-cleaning the article before using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition to coat the article.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the coating is about 5 μ

m to about 17 μ

m thick.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the coating protects the article from corrosion for at least 200 hour when exposed to an ASTM B117 salt-fog test.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the article is an architectural hardware.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the architectural hardware item is chosen from a door handle, door lever, door grip, appliance handle, hand rail, an escutcheon, knob, trim, decorative trim hardware and combinations thereof.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the article comprises at least one of brass, chrome, zinc, aluminum, and steel.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein the article is chrome plated or brass plated.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein prior to using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition to coat at least a portion of the article with the optically-transparent, corrosion-protective coating, a plasma vapor deposition (PVD) coating is applied to the substrate using plasma vapor deposition (PVD), the PVD coating thereby having the optically-transparent, corrosion-resistant coating on at least a portion thereof, and the PVD coating comprising at least one of titanium, titanium nitride, zirconium, zirconium nitride, chromium, chromium nitride, titanium-aluminum nitride, copper, copper nitride, aluminum, nickel, tin, brass, and combinations thereof.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the article comprises at least one of zinc, aluminum, steel, brass, and chrome.