A metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line

Abstract

A metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line includes a coating chamber, which is divided into two sections, front and rear sections, and windows are opened on one side of each chamber of the front and rear sections, and a track perpendicular to the frame is provided on one side of the frame corresponding to each window; a planar rectangular cathode arc source device is arranged in the front section, including a target material and a mobile trolley, the target material is fixed on the vertical panel of the mobile trolley and is located in a supporting drawer box; the mobile trolley travels on a vertical track, and a sealed door bracket composed of a frame and a vertical panel is arranged on it, the surface of the vertical panel facing the window direction is a sealing surface and is sealed with the window frame of the window, and a groove-shaped supporting drawer extending toward the window is fixed on the vertical panel; a rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering target device is arranged in the rear section, including a sputtering target and a mobile trolley assembly, the sputtering target is fixed on the vertical panel and is located in the supporting drawer box; the target material and the sputtering target are pushed into or pulled out of each chamber respectively by the mobile trolley. The coating color of the coating of the present invention is uniform and stable, and the process is reliable.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a vacuum coating device, in particular to a metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line using a planar rectangular cathode arc source for deposition. Background Art

[0002] After years of development of PVD technology, roll-to-roll vacuum coating equipment has developed rapidly in recent years, and roll-to-roll vacuum coating has been widely used. In the early days, roll-to-roll vacuum coating equipment was mainly used for vacuum aluminum coating of a whole roll of plastic film, mostly used in the packaging field. After continuous technological progress, roll-to-roll vacuum coating has been promoted and applied to the production of SiO2, ITO film, dielectric film, etc. Roll-to-roll coating is a high-speed and high-efficiency continuous coating production method. Tons of re-rolled plastic film are unwound from one end to the other end. The film passes through the coating area at a speed of tens of meters per minute to complete the coating. For example, when coating aluminum film, a row of graphite heating boats with the same width as the film tape will be used. The graphite boats are powered on to heat up, and aluminum wires are continuously fed into the heated graphite boats. The aluminum is evaporated at high temperature and deposited on the high-speed moving plastic tape above to form a film; to prevent the tape from being deformed by heat, the tape should be attached to a frozen rotating roller and coated while being transported.

[0003] Technical difficulties of winding-type rapid coating: high-speed coating while ensuring uniformity of the film layer, ensuring uniform longitudinal tension during high-speed tape travel, ensuring that the tape does not wrinkle, and ensuring that the tape does not deviate to the left or right.

[0004] Another development direction of winding coating is to coat metal foil, including copper coating, reaction coating of various colored medium decorative films, etc. This is a new high-speed and efficient coating technology that the industry has been expecting to achieve for many years. However, vacuum winding coating on metal foil is very difficult. First, the whole roll of metal foil weighs more than ten or twenty tons and is thousands of meters long. It involves the technology of high-speed conveying of metal foil in vacuum with large driving force, and the problem of uniform longitudinal tension and uniform transverse tension of metal foil with a width of more than one meter at high speed to ensure the flatness and non-deviation of the board surface; it involves the problem of uniform film thickness and film color within a bandwidth of more than one meter and a length of thousands of meters, and the problem of no scratches, no film falling, and no coating defects on the coating surface of the whole roll of foil. Previous work has imported winding metal foil coating machines, and cases of evaporating copper film with high-power electron guns. This type of pure metal film coating products is relatively simple. Recently, Chinese patent CN104862662B "Multifunctional continuous vacuum plasma coating system" discloses a system for ion coating of metal foil strips with small arc targets and cathode arcs, which uses small arc targets to simultaneously perform ion bombardment cleaning and coating; some time ago, someone also showed a design scheme for ion coating of metal foil strips with magnetron sputtering. The above schemes are all applied to ion coating of colored decorative stainless steel foil strips, but there are many problems to be solved, and the technical solutions are not ideal. At present, there are more prominent problems: such as the unsatisfactory uniformity and stability of the ion coating color of the whole roll of metal foil strips, and the poor firmness and reliability of the coating bonding of the whole roll of foil strips.

[0005] The main components of the existing continuous production line for winding ion plating of metal foil strips for decorative coating include the following chambers: unwinding chamber - heating chamber - ion bombardment etching chamber - coating chamber - cooling and foil strip tension adjustment chamber - winding chamber.

[0006] Technical features include:

[0007] Heating chamber: It is heated by a stainless steel tubular heating rod group, which is a common technology;

[0008] Ion bombardment etching chamber: uses multiple small circular cathode arc sources, high bias arc ion bombardment etching, or uses long strip anode layer ion source ion beam etching; in the former, large particles of arc target material are deposited on the substrate surface during ion etching, making the coating rough, and the uniformity and reliability of multi-target etching are poor; the latter long strip anode layer ion source has high manufacturing technology requirements, difficult maintenance and high cost.

[0009] Coating chamber: multiple small circular cathode arc sources are arranged in an array for arc coating (such as titanium), and reactive gas (such as nitrogen) is introduced at the same time to synthesize a gold-like titanium nitride film. Since it relies on multiple small circular targets to emit conical titanium metal plasma for overlapping coating, there will be differences between the targets, and it is obviously difficult to be very uniform; if one of the targets extinguishes the arc, it will be even more difficult to handle. The process stability and reliability are poor.

[0010] Other cabins such as unwinding, rewinding, cooling and tension adjustment mostly adopt existing mechanical industry technologies.

[0011] However, the above solution has shortcomings:

[0012] 1. There is no special glue removal process before the heating chamber. Since there is protective paper on the surface of the polished foil, there will be residual adhesive after tearing it off. It is best to have a way to remove it before the foil heating process to improve the coating quality. The existing glow discharge argon plasma etching and glue removal effect is not good enough;

[0013] 2. Plasma bombardment etching relies on multiple small arc targets to emit plasma, which overlaps and compensates for each other, making it difficult to achieve good uniformity;

[0014] 3. Reactive ion plating uses multiple small circular cathode arcs arranged in an array. The coating color is not uniform and stable enough, and the process is not reliable enough;

[0015] 4. There is no online real-time monitoring device for the L*a*b* value and color difference of the foil strip's coating color in the horizontal and vertical directions, and the coating process parameters cannot be corrected in time according to the real-time displayed color difference to ensure color uniformity and consistency. Summary of the invention

[0016] The first technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line with uniform and stable coating layer color and reliable process.

[0017] Furthermore, the present invention can also monitor the L*a*b* value and color difference of the foil strip's lateral and longitudinal coating color online in real time, and can correct the process parameters in time to ensure color uniformity and consistency.

[0018] Furthermore, the present invention can also achieve good degumming effect and uniform and thorough ion etching without large particle deposition.

[0019] To solve the above-mentioned first technical problem, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is as follows:

[0020] A metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line, comprising an unwinding cabin 1, a heating cabin 10, an ion bombardment etching cabin 14a, a coating cabin 14b, a cooling and foil strip tension adjustment cabin 15 and a winding cabin 19 which are vacuum-connected in sequence, wherein the coating cabin 14b is configured by a combination of cathode arc + medium frequency magnetron sputtering coating technologies;

[0021] The coating chamber 14b comprises:

[0022] The coating chamber is a plurality of interconnected flat boxes supported on a coating chamber frame 26. The coating chamber is divided into two sections, the front section is a planar rectangular cathode arc coating section, and the rear section is a medium frequency magnetron sputtering coating section. Windows are opened on one side of each box in the front and rear sections, and rails perpendicular to the frame are provided on one side of the frame corresponding to each window; (the front and rear sections have a plurality of targets, so they occupy multiple boxes and multiple windows)

[0023] Planar rectangular cathode arc source device III, comprising a planar rectangular cathode arc source 91 and a third movable carriage assembly identical to the first movable carriage assembly, the planar rectangular cathode arc source including a target 91-2 being fixed on the vertical panel and located in the support drawer box;

[0024] The first moving trolley assembly comprises: a moving trolley 40, a pulley assembly, a high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 and a support drawer box 41-0; the pulley assembly is installed at the bottom of the moving trolley 40 and travels on the track perpendicular to the frame, and a high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 is provided on the top, which is composed of a frame and a vertical panel parallel to the side of the window of the front section of the plasma residual glue removal chamber, and the surface of the vertical panel facing the window is a sealing surface and has a corresponding sealing design with the window frame of the window, and a groove-shaped support drawer box 41-0 extending toward the window is fixed on the vertical panel;

[0025] The rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target device IV (rotates when working) includes a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly and a fourth movable carriage assembly that is identical to the first movable carriage assembly. The rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly including a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 is fixed on the vertical panel and located in the supporting drawer box 41-0.

[0026] By moving the respective trolleys back and forth on tracks perpendicular to the frame, the planar rectangular cathode arc source 91 and the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 respectively mounted on the trolley assembly are pushed into or pulled out of the coating chamber from corresponding windows.

[0027] The plane rectangular cathode arc source 91 comprises a target holder 91-1, a target material 91-2, a target pressure strip 91-3 and a plane rectangular cathode arc source connector 91-4; the target pressure strip 91-3 is pressed on the periphery of the rectangular flat target material 91-2 and is fixed to the plane rectangular target holder 91-1 by screws; the target holder 91-1 is sealed and insulatedly connected to the vertical panel of the plane rectangular cathode arc source sealing door bracket 41-2 on the moving trolley 40 through the plane rectangular cathode arc source connector 91-4, and is insulated and supported on the drawer box 41-0. The plane rectangular cathode arc source is installed on the same moving trolley 40 as mentioned above. When the moving trolley pushes the half-rectangular cathode arc source assembly into the coating chamber, the target material 91-2 extends along the width direction of the steel foil strip and is located below the steel foil strip conveyed forward.

[0028] The rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly includes: a rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target 92, a rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target insulating seat 92-1 and a rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target joint 92-2; the right end of the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 is sealed and insulated with the vertical panel of the intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target sealing door bracket 41-3 on the moving trolley through the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target joint 92-2, and at the same time, the tail end of the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 is supported by the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target insulating seat 92-1 and fixed on the support drawer box 41-0. The rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly is installed on the same moving trolley 40 as mentioned above. When the moving trolley 40 pushes the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly into the coating chamber, the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 extends along the width direction of the foil strip and is located below the foil strip conveyed forward.

[0029] A molecular pump is also provided to form a high vacuum in the coating chamber 14b, and a negative bias device (not shown) is provided to apply a negative bias between the metal foil strip and the chamber wall.

[0030] Furthermore, the present invention can also monitor the L*a*b* value and color difference of the foil strip's lateral and longitudinal coating color online in real time, and can correct the process parameters in time to ensure color uniformity and consistency.

[0031] An online real-time coating color spectrum monitoring cabin is added between the cooling and belt tension adjustment cabin and the winding cabin, which includes:

[0032] Spectral colorimetric chamber 18, probe protection cover 94, online optical detection monitoring analysis reflection measurement probe 95, online optical detection monitoring analysis device 96, optical fiber signal line 97, control cabinet 98 and coating chamber frame 26; Spectral colorimetric chamber 18 is supported on coating chamber frame 26, the color side of the coated foil strip 93 conveyed is facing downward, the online optical detection monitoring analysis reflection measurement probe 95 below it faces the color side of the foil strip, a probe protection cover 94 is provided between the foil strip and the probe to prevent damage to the probe, and the spectrum reflected back to the probe by the coating is used for real-time color measurement, that is, the reflection spectrum enters the online optical detection monitoring analysis device 96 for analysis and calculation, and is conveyed to the control cabinet 98 through the optical fiber signal line 97, and the color value L*a*b* and color difference value are displayed and stored in real time. The staff will handle the displayed results in a timely manner. This is the first online real-time color measurement device configured in similar production lines. It arranges several reflective spectral color measurement probes across the width of the foil strip. The color measurement signal is processed by software to measure the lateral color difference distribution of the coating, and can quickly sample during the forward movement of the foil strip to continuously measure the longitudinal color difference change. The measurement speed for each point is 1000ms.

[0033] Preferably:

[0034] The movable trolley 40 is connected to the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 above it through a connecting sliding head assembly, and its structure is as follows: a trolley connecting head 66 with a convex shoulder is inserted from bottom to top into the vertical hole of the bottom plate of the movable trolley 40, and they are fixed together with a hexagon socket cylindrical head screw 65, the upper end of the trolley connecting head 66 is inserted into the vertical hole of the bottom plate of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and is sleeved in the trolley connecting head spacer 64 with a convex ring, the outer end surface of the trolley connecting head 66 is parallel to the upper end surface of the vertical hole of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, a trolley connecting head retaining ring 63 is provided to be clamped on the vertical hole of the bottom plate of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket, and the trolley connecting head retaining ring 63 and the trolley connecting head 66 are fixed together with a hexagon socket cylindrical head screw 62; one of the vertical holes of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 or the vertical holes of the movable trolley 40 is a long hole groove, so that the trolley connecting head 66 can be flexibly slid and adjusted to take position.

[0035] Furthermore, the present invention further provides a vacuum ion residual glue removal cabin 9 between the unwinding cabin 1 and the heating cabin 10;

[0036] The vacuum ion residual glue removal cabin comprises:

[0037] The plasma residual glue removal chamber is a flat box supported on a plasma residual glue removal chamber frame 24. The chamber is divided into two sections, the front section is a high-voltage glow discharge etching residual glue removal section, and the rear section is a columnar arc electron source (removal of glue) etching section. Two front and rear windows are opened on the side of the chamber, and one side of the frame corresponding to the two windows is provided with a track perpendicular to the frame.

[0038] A molecular pump is used to form a high vacuum in the plasma residual glue removal chamber 9;

[0039] A negative bias device (not shown) applies a negative bias voltage between the metal foil strip and the chamber wall;

[0040] The high-voltage glow discharge etching and residual glue removal device assembly I includes an ion residual glue removal high-voltage rod assembly and a first movable carriage assembly; the ion residual glue removal high-voltage rod assembly including the plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod 42 is fixed on the vertical panel and is located in the support drawer box;

[0041] Columnar arc electron source (glue removal) etching device assembly II includes a columnar arc electron source and a second movable trolley assembly identical to the first movable trolley assembly; the columnar arc electron source is fixed on the vertical panel and located in the support drawer box.

[0042] By moving the respective moving carts back and forth on the tracks perpendicular to the frame, the plasma residual glue cleaning high-voltage rod 42 and the columnar arc electron source respectively installed on the moving cart assembly can be pushed into or pulled out of the chamber 9 from the corresponding windows.

[0043] The ion-removing residual glue high-voltage rod assembly includes a plasma-removing residual glue high-voltage rod 42, a high-voltage rod insulating seat 43, a high-voltage rod sealing plate 44 and a high-voltage rod sealing introduction joint Ⅰ-Ⅰ; the right end of the plasma-removing residual glue high-voltage rod 42 passes through the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 through the high-voltage rod sealing introduction joint Ⅰ-Ⅰ and is sealed and fixedly connected, and then connected to the negative electrode of the high-voltage rod dedicated power supply (not shown), and the positive electrode of the dedicated power supply is grounded. The left end of the plasma-removing residual glue high-voltage rod 42 has a high-voltage rod sealing plate 44, and the high-voltage rod insulating seat 43 fixed on the support drawer box 41-0 supports the tail of the plasma-removing residual glue high-voltage rod 42; when the support drawer box 41-0 is pushed into the chamber, the plasma-removing residual glue high-voltage rod 42 extends along the width of the foil and is located below the foil conveyed forward.

[0044] The sealed lead-in joint Ⅰ-Ⅰ structure includes a lead shaft 45, a small round nut 46, a washer 47, a hexagon socket head screw 48, a lead insulation seat 49, an O-ring 50, a liner nut 51, a hexagon socket head screw 52, ​​a shielding cover 53 and an O-ring 54; the lead shaft 45 is a stepped shaft with a large lower end and a thin upper end, and the front section of the lower end has a coarse thread for threaded connection with the plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod 42, and there is a convex shoulder behind the lower end, and a relatively thin diameter round shaft behind the convex shoulder, and there is a thread at the upper end. The lead insulation seat 49 is a sleeve insulator with a convex ring at one end, which penetrates the horizontal hole on the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and is sealed with a hexagon socket head. The screw 48 is fixedly connected, and the end face is sealed with an O-ring 50; the upper end thin shaft of the above-mentioned lead shaft 45 is inserted upward from the lower end of the lead insulation seat through hole, and after the gasket 47 is inserted into the upper end face of the convex ring of the lead insulation seat, it is tightened and fixed with two small round nuts 46. At this time, the upper end face of the lower boss of the lead shaft is against the lower end face of the lead insulation seat 49, and the inner surface is sealed with an O-ring 54; the lining nut 51 is welded to the back of the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and then the shielding cover 53 is fixed to the lining nut 51 with a hexagon socket cylindrical head screw 52 to protect the lead insulation seat 49 from contamination, and the negative lead terminal of the external power supply is connected to the upper end thin shaft end of the lead shaft 45.

[0045] The columnar arc electron source comprises: a rotating columnar cathode arc target 67 (rotating during operation), a rotating columnar cathode arc target joint 67-2, a rotating columnar cathode arc target insulating seat 67-1, an arc electron source shielding plate 70, an arc electron source side window 68, an arc electron source end shielding plate 73, a water inlet bellows 69, a water return bellows 72, an arc electron source gas supply pipe 71 and an auxiliary anode assembly; after the right end of the rotating columnar cathode arc target 67 passes through the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 through the rotating columnar cathode arc target joint 67-2 and is sealed and fixed, it is externally connected to the negative pole of the arc power supply (not shown) (the positive pole of the power supply is connected to the furnace cavity wall and grounded), and the rotating columnar cathode arc target insulating seat 67-1 fixed on the supporting drawer box 41-0 supports the tail end of the rotating columnar cathode arc target; when the supporting drawer box 41-0 is pushed into the chamber, the rotating columnar cathode The cathode arc target 67 extends along the width of the foil and is located below the foil conveyed forward; the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target 67 is provided with a rotating cylindrical arc electron source shielding plate 70 facing the metal foil and around it, so as to prevent the arc discharge plasma when the cathode arc is started from directly projecting onto the foil; an arc electron source side window 68 is left beside the shielding plate; above the rotating cylindrical arc electron source shielding plate 70, above the space between the upper shielding plate and the foil, an auxiliary anode rod 85 of an auxiliary anode assembly is installed, and a positive potential is applied to the auxiliary anode rod 85; there is also a cooling water inlet introduced through the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and enters the hollow rotating cylindrical cathode arc target 67 cavity through the water inlet bellows 69. After the cooling water circulates and cools in the above-mentioned cavity, the return water flows out of the target cavity, and is guided out of the cavity through the return water inlet pipe and then through the return water bellows 72. The arc electron source gas supply pipe 71 is placed near the cylindrical cathode arc target.

[0046] The auxiliary anode assembly of the arc electron source is composed of an anode joint assembly and an anode rod assembly. The right end is the anode joint assembly, including: a quick joint 74, an anode water joint 75, an anode joint 76, a hexagon socket head screw 77, an insulating sleeve 78, an O-ring 79, an anode sealing flange 80, an anode mounting plate 81, an O-ring 82 and an anode joint insulation 83. The anode joint 76 is a hollow tube with a complex shape. The right end head has an inner hole thread, a convex shoulder flange in the middle section near the right end, and the left end has a narrower diameter and a thread. The inner hole thread of the right end head of the anode joint is fixedly connected to the thread of the anode water joint 75, and its upper end is connected to the quick connector 74 to form a water inlet. The anode water joint 75 is connected to the water inlet conduit, which passes through the hollow inner tube cavity of the anode joint 76 and extends into the inner tube cavity of the anode rod (hollow) 85. The right end of the anode joint 76 has a side opening, which is connected to another quick connector 74 and communicates with the inner tube cavity annular return water channel of the anode joint 76 to form a return water outlet; the anode mounting plate 81 is fixed to the sealing door of the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1 by screws, and is connected to the sealing door bracket 41-1 by O-type The anode joint 76 is sealed by a ring 82, and an anode sealing flange 80 with a flange sleeve on the end face is inserted from the left end of the anode joint 76, so that the flange end face is against the convex shoulder flange end face of the anode joint 76, and the left end of the anode joint 76 together with the anode sealing flange 80 is passed through the anode mounting plate 81 and the through hole of the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1, so that the anode insulating flange 80 is pressed on the anode mounting plate 81, and the anode joint is insulated and fixed to the anode mounting plate 81 through the flange hole by a hexagon socket cylindrical head screw 77 with an insulating sleeve 78, and the sealing is achieved by two O-rings 79, and a tubular anode joint insulation 83 is sleeved in the gap between the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1 and the anode joint to ensure insulation.

[0047] The anode rod assembly further comprises: an anode rod insulating sleeve 84 , an anode rod 85 , an O-ring 86 , an O-ring 87 , a cathode rod plug 88 , an anode rod insulating seat 89 , and a hexagon socket head screw 90 . The anode rod is a hollow tube, and its right end has an internal thread connected with the thin external thread on the left end of the anode joint to achieve electrical connection. The left end of the anode rod is provided with an anode rod plug 88 to plug the anode rod (tube) end, and is sealed with O-rings 87 and 86. The lower left end of the cathode rod is supported by an anode rod insulating seat 89, and the insulating seat is fixed to the support drawer box 41-0 with a hexagon socket cylindrical screw 90. The right end of the anode rod is covered with an anode rod insulating sleeve 84, which is sleeved with the anode joint insulating sleeve 83 installed between the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1 and the anode joint pore, ensuring that the anode rod is insulated and not contaminated. The water inlet conduit connected to the anode water joint 75 passes through the hollow cavity of the anode rod 85 to the right end, and the inlet water flows out of the conduit at a high speed and flows back along the annular water channel formed by the outer wall of the conduit and the inner wall of the anode rod tube to cool the anode rod.

[0048] The plasma residual glue removal chamber 9 is also provided with a gas supply port and a gas distribution pipe to supply argon gas.

[0049] Furthermore, the present invention also realizes ion etching that is uniform and thorough without large particle deposition, that is, ion bombardment etching before plating uses columnar arc electron source enhanced glow discharge argon plasma etching; that is, a columnar arc electron source etching device assembly with the same structure as the columnar arc electron source etching and degumming device assembly II is used in the arc electron source ion etching chamber 14a to more effectively and uniformly ion etch the foil surface to remove dirt and oxide scale on the foil surface, replacing the existing less than ideal small round target cathode arc or anode layer ion source ion etching technology. The present invention uses multiple groups of parallel columnar arc electron source etching devices to perform continuous and thorough ion etching cleaning. Each group of columnar arc electron source etching device assemblies is exactly the same as the above structure, and the above description is referred to and will not be repeated here.

[0050] The following are the innovative technical features of the present invention, which surpass the technology used in the existing metal foil tape winding production line:

[0051] (1) Ion removal of residual glue uses high-voltage glow discharge argon plasma etching and removal technology, which is more effective than the commonly used glow discharge argon plasma etching and removal of glue. In this process, the self-developed columnar arc electron source is also used to enhance the argon glow plasma etching and removal of glue, which is more thorough.

[0052] (2) Ion bombardment etching does not use the existing cathode arc high bias or anode layer ion source ion beam emission method, but uses the self-developed columnar arc electron source to enhance the argon glow plasma bombardment, which has a better and more uniform decontamination effect, improves the film-base bonding strength, reduces film shedding, and makes the coating smoother.

[0053] (3) Reactive ion plating abandons the method of using multiple small circular cathode arcs arranged in an array for film coating, and adopts the patented technology developed by itself (patent number 201110425157.5 A rectangular plane cathode arc evaporation source with a combined magnetic field), that is, a combined magnetic field plane rectangular cathode arc source. The plane rectangular cathode arc source has a combined magnetic field structure with a row of permanent magnets in the center and two inner and outer circles of long elliptical electromagnetic windings wound around its periphery. It can obtain a wider and flatter arched magnetic field line dome envelope on the target surface. It emits a wider and more uniform plasma beam, has a high target material utilization rate, and a longer service life. The coating is carried out by arranging multiple plane rectangular arc sources in parallel to ensure that the coating color is more uniform, more stable, and the process is more reliable. Of course, multiple rotating cylindrical cathode arc sources can also be used for side-by-side coating. In order to make it easier to control a variety of complex colors, such as rose gold, champagne, etc., multiple side-by-side cylindrical rotating medium-frequency magnetron sputtering cathodes are specially added for coating to achieve multiple uses of one machine.

[0054] (4) Establish an online spectral reflectance color difference measurement system, which can monitor the L*a*b* value and color difference of the foil strip in the horizontal and vertical directions, so as to facilitate timely correction of the coating process parameters and ensure color uniformity and consistency. The present invention uses a scheme of multiple parallel planar rectangular cathode arc targets, which fundamentally improves the coating uniformity with the obvious advantage of the uniformity of the plasma emitted by the rectangular cathode arc; when it is necessary to achieve special color coating, multiple parallel rotating cylindrical magnetron sputtering targets are used for fine color adjustment, which are all effective methods verified in the single-cabin vertical machine coating practice. At the same time, a monitor for online real-time rapid determination of the coating color value is installed on the production line, providing real-time determination of the color value of the coating that has just been deposited, and obtaining color uniformity and consistency data immediately, so that the process parameters can be adjusted online and color difference can be corrected; in addition, before coating, a new type of columnar arc electron source developed by itself is used to enhance the glow discharge argon plasma to perform ion etching on the metal foil strip, which is more effective and more thorough than traditional glow ion etching, thereby improving the film / substrate bonding force, making it more solid and not falling off. It is also more uniform than cleaning and etching by small circular cathode arc ion bombardment, and avoids large particles that roughen the surface of the coating. In order to reduce scratches on the metal foil, after the foil is rolled outside the furnace for cleaning, a protective paper tape is first applied to the surface of the foil, and the protective paper is separated before entering the coating line for unwinding and feeding, and the protective paper is immediately applied when the foil is rolled up after coating. This can avoid scratches on the surface of the tape when unwinding and unwinding. However, adhesive will remain on the surface of the metal foil covered with protective paper. The present invention adds a step of using an arc electron source to enhance argon plasma to remove the residual adhesive, so as to ensure that the surface of the metal foil is clean. The scheme of the present invention improves the uniformity of the color of the coating on the metal foil, improves the bonding strength between the coating and the substrate, improves the quality of the metal foil coating, and improves the reliability and stability of the ion plating technology for metal foil winding.

[0055] Benefits of the invention:

[0056] (1) The high-voltage glow discharge argon plasma etching technology is more effective than the commonly used glow discharge argon plasma etching technology to remove residual glue.

[0057] (2) Using a columnar arc electron source with proprietary technology, a uniform and powerful electron flow larger than the width of the foil strip is drawn out to enhance the argon glow discharge plasma, and the surface of the foil strip is subjected to enhanced ion bombardment cleaning and etching, which is used to remove pollution and oxide scale on the foil strip before the coating stage. Compared with the cleaning and etching effect of pure argon glow discharge plasma, its cleaning and etching is faster, more effective, and more thorough, which improves work efficiency and improves the bonding strength of the film substrate; compared with arc discharge plasma bombardment etching using a small circular cathode arc source, the etching is more uniform and the process is more stable, avoiding the generation of large particle deposition and causing the surface of the foil strip to become rough. Columnar arc electron source enhanced argon glow discharge plasma etching technology can also be used to remove residual adhesive on the foil strip before the heating stage, and the residual adhesive removal is more thorough.

[0058] (3) The use of multiple parallel planar rectangular cathode arc sources (or cylindrical rotating cathode arc sources) for reactive ion plating is superior to the previous coating scheme using multiple small planar circular cathode arc arrays in terms of uniformity, stability and reliability of the coating; the latter scheme must use many small circular arc targets, which rely on the emission of conical plasma to interleave and overlap each other for coating, and the coating uniformity is poor. The number of small circular arc sources is large and they are staggered, and their failure rate is high. If a small circular arc fails somewhere, the coating unevenness is difficult to make up for.

[0059] (4) The combination of two coating areas, a planar rectangular cathode arc source and a rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering target, is used to combine the characteristics of the two cathode targets, and is suitable for producing a variety of color coating products with one machine. For example, the planar rectangular cathode arc coating area mainly uses titanium targets to produce gold-like titanium nitride film systems, with fast coating speed and high color L* value; while the medium-frequency magnetron sputtering coating area is mainly equipped with titanium-aluminum alloy targets to produce complex color film systems such as rose gold. Although the coating speed is slower, the coating color is easy to control.

[0060] (5) For the first time, an online spectral reflectance color difference measurement system is used to monitor the L*a*b* value and color difference of the foil coating in the horizontal and vertical directions in real time, facilitating timely correction of coating process parameters to ensure color uniformity and consistency.

[0061] (6) This metal winding continuous coating production line is used for the reactive ion plating of stainless steel foil strips to produce decorative multi-color film products. The coating method uses a whole roll of foil strips of thousands of meters long, which reduces the pollution caused by frequent opening of the furnace door to break the vacuum, improves work efficiency and coating quality, and increases production capacity and production efficiency by several times, which greatly reduces costs and greatly improves the uniformity and consistency of the coating color. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0062] Figure 1 It is a schematic front view of a metal foil strip winding ion plating continuous coating production line;

[0063] Figure 2 It is a top view schematic diagram of a metal foil strip winding ion plating continuous coating production line;

[0064] Figure 3a The main schematic diagram of the high-voltage glow discharge etching and residual adhesive removal device (I) of the ion residual adhesive removal cabin;

[0065] Figure 3b A schematic top view of a high-voltage glow discharge etching and residual adhesive removal device (I) for an ion residual adhesive removal chamber;

[0066] Figure 3c The left side schematic diagram of the high-voltage glow discharge etching and residual adhesive removal device (Ⅰ) of the ion residual adhesive removal chamber;

[0067] Figure 4 for Figure 3a Partially enlarged schematic diagram of the high-pressure rod seal introduction structure in Ⅰ-Ⅰ;

[0068] Figure 5 for Figure 3a A partial enlarged schematic diagram of the pulley assembly of the target gate moving trolley of Ⅰ-Ⅱ;

[0069] Figure 6 for Figure 3b A partial enlarged schematic diagram of the target gate connection head of the target gate moving trolley of Ⅰ-III;

[0070] Figure 7a This is a schematic diagram of the main view of the arc electron source ion etching cleaning device (II);

[0071] Figure 7b It is a top view schematic diagram of arc electron source ion etching cleaning device (II);

[0072] Figure 7c It is the left view schematic diagram of arc electron source ion etching cleaning device (II);

[0073] Figure 8 for Figure 7a Schematic diagram of the anode structure of the arc electron source (Ⅱ-Ⅰ);

[0074] Figure 9a It is a schematic diagram of the front view of the planar rectangular cathode arc device (III) of the coating chamber;

[0075] Figure 9b It is a top view schematic diagram of a planar rectangular cathode arc device (III) in a coating chamber;

[0076] Fig.9c It is a left-side schematic diagram of a planar rectangular cathode arc device (III) in a coating chamber;

[0077] Fig.10a It is a schematic diagram of the main view of the rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering cathode target device (IV) in the coating chamber;

[0078] Fig.10b It is a top view schematic diagram of a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering cathode target device (IV) in a coating chamber;

[0079] Fig.10c It is a left-side schematic diagram of a rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering cathode target device (IV) in a coating chamber;

[0080] Fig.11 Schematic diagram of the online spectral colorimetry management system (V).

[0081] The description of the parts of the attached drawings is shown in the table below.

[0082] Reference numerals list

[0083] 1. Unwinding chamber;

[0084] 1-1, moving door;

[0085] 2. Molecular pump DN320;

[0086] 3. Foil trolley (unwinding);

[0087] 4. Paper roll (rolling);

[0088] 5. Stainless steel foil coil (unwinding);

[0089] 6. DN150 flapper valve;

[0090] 7. Vacuum pipeline in unwinding chamber;

[0091] 8. Guide roller;

[0092] 9. Plasma removes residual glue chamber;

[0093] 10, heating chamber;

[0094] 11, heater group;

[0095] 12, roller;

[0096] 13. Bias voltage introduction device;

[0097] 14a, ion bombardment etching chamber;

[0098] 14b, coating chamber;

[0099] 15, cooling chamber;

[0100] 16, cooling roller;

[0101] 17, weight roller;

[0102] 18, spectral colorimetry chamber;

[0103] 19, winding chamber;

[0104] 20, coated stainless steel coil;

[0105] 21. Protect the paper roll (unwinding);

[0106] 22, foil strip trolley (reeling);

[0107] 23, molecular pump DN250;

[0108] 24, plasma cleaning residual glue chamber frame;

[0109] 25, heating chamber rack;

[0110] 26, coating chamber rack;

[0111] 27, Mechanical pump;

[0112] 28, Roots pump;

[0113] 29, main drive servo motor;

[0114] 30, main drive coupling;

[0115] 31, main drive reducer;

[0116] 32, main motor fixing bracket;

[0117] 33, paper roll servo motor;

[0118] 34, paper roll reducer;

[0119] 35, vacuum pipeline of coating room;

[0120] 36, DN150 glass corrugated tube;

[0121] 37, operating table;

[0122] 38, high voltage cabinet;

[0123] 39, control cabinet;

[0124] 40, target gate moving trolley;

[0125] 41, high pressure rod sealing door bracket;

[0126] 41-0, supporting drawer box;

[0127] 41-1, ion etching cleaning of sealing door bracket;

[0128] 41-2, flat rectangular cathode arc source sealed door bracket;

[0129] 41-3, medium frequency magnetron sputtering target sealing door bracket;

[0130] 42. Plasma removal of residual glue high-voltage rod;

[0131] 43, high voltage rod insulation seat;

[0132] 44, plasma removes residual glue and high-pressure rod seals the plate;

[0133] 45, lead shaft;

[0134] 46, small round nut;

[0135] 47, washer 1;

[0136] 48, hexagon socket head screw;

[0137] 49, lead insulation seat;

[0138] 50, O-ring Φ85X4;

[0139] 51, liner nut;

[0140] 52, hexagon socket head screw;

[0141] 53, shielding cover;

[0142] 54, O-ring Φ48X4;

[0143] 55, pulley seat;

[0144] 56, hexagon socket head screw;

[0145] 57, pulley shaft;

[0146] 58, pulley spacer ring;

[0147] 59, deep groove ball bearing 6202;

[0148] 60, pulley hub;

[0149] 61, circlip for shaft;

[0150] 62, hexagon socket head screw;

[0151] 63, retaining ring of trolley connector;

[0152] 64, trolley connector spacer;

[0153] 65, hexagon socket head screw;

[0154] 66, trolley connector;

[0155] 67, Columnar arc electron etching source;

[0156] 67-1, arc electron source insulation seat;

[0157] 67-2, arc electron source connector;

[0158] 68, arc electron source side window;

[0159] 69, water inlet bellows;

[0160] 70, arc electron source shielding plate;

[0161] 71, arc electron source working gas pipe;

[0162] 72, return water bellows;

[0163] 73, arc electron source end shielding plate;

[0164] 74, quick connector;

[0165] 75, anode water connector;

[0166] 76, anode connector;

[0167] 77, hexagon socket head screw;

[0168] 78, insulating sleeve;

[0169] 79, O-ring Φ42XΦ4;

[0170] 80, anode sealing flange;

[0171] 81, anode mounting plate;

[0172] 82, O-ring Φ95XΦ4;

[0173] 83, anode joint insulation;

[0174] 84, anode rod insulation;

[0175] 85, anode rod;

[0176] 86, O-ring Φ18XΦ2;

[0177] 87, O-ring Φ23XΦ2;

[0178] 88, anode rod plug;

[0179] 89, anode rod insulation seat;

[0180] 90, hexagon socket head screw;

[0181] 91, plane rectangular cathode arc source;

[0182] 91-1, target base;

[0183] 91-2, target material;

[0184] 91-3, target layering;

[0185] 91-4, flat rectangular cathode arc source connector;

[0186] 92, medium frequency magnetron sputtering target source;

[0187] 92-1, medium frequency magnetron sputtering target source insulation seat;

[0188] 92-2, medium frequency magnetron sputtering target source connector;

[0189] 93, foil tape;

[0190] 94, probe protection cover;

[0191] 95. Online optical detection, monitoring and analysis, reflection measurement probe;

[0192] 96. Online optical detection, monitoring and analysis device;

[0193] 97, optical fiber signal line;

[0194] 98, control cabinet;

[0195] I, high voltage glow discharge etching and residual glue removal device;

[0196] Ⅱ, Columnar arc electron source etching device components (removal of glue or etching);

[0197] III, plane rectangular cathode arc source device;

[0198] IV, Rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron target shooting device. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0199] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0200] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the main view of the metal foil strip winding ion plating continuous coating production line. Figure 2 for Figure 1 Schematic top view of .

[0201] The two figures show the layout structure of the entire production line. The production line is divided into eight cabins which are vacuum connected in sequence. The first cabin is the unwinding cabin 1, the second is the vacuum ion residual glue removal cabin 9, the third is the heating cabin 10, the fourth is the arc electron source ion bombardment etching cabin 14a, the fifth is the coating cabin 14b, the sixth is the cooling and foil tension adjustment cabin 15, the seventh is the online color detection chamber 18, and the eighth is the winding cabin 19.

[0202] The front and rear ends of each cabin of the production line are equipped with movable doors for the entry and exit of foil coils. The second, fourth and fifth cabins are all cabins where target materials are used. The relevant cabins are divided into several sub-chambers, and a drawer-type structure is adopted. The corresponding target materials are fixed in the drawer box. A drawer window is opened on the side of the chamber. The drawer box is inserted into the chamber horizontally from the window. The position of the window at the end of the drawer box is a sealed door, which can be sealed when closed.

[0203] The drawer box is installed on a mobile trolley and pushed or pulled out of the chamber from the above-mentioned side window along the track, which is convenient for replacing the target material and maintenance.

[0204] The second, fourth, fifth and seventh cabins in the production line have the technical features of the present invention, which are described below respectively.

[0205] The first unwinding cabin includes: a box-type unwinding chamber 1, a molecular pump 2, an unwinding foil trolley 3, a paper roll (rewinding) 4, a stainless steel roll (unwinding) 5, a baffle valve 6, an unwinding chamber vacuum pipeline 7, a guide roller 8, a mechanical pump 27, a Roots pump 28, a main drive servo motor 29, a main drive coupling 30, a main drive reducer 31, a main motor fixing frame 32, a paper roll servo motor 33, a paper roll reducer 34, an operating table 37 and a movable door 1-1.

[0206] The movable door 1-1 shown in the figure is a push-pull type and is in the open state. The stainless steel coil 5 has been placed on the unwinding foil strip trolley 3. The stainless steel foil strip roll 5 has been previously cleaned and dried, and then covered with protective paper to protect the strip surface from scratches during winding and unwinding. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the protective paper on the stainless steel foil strip roll 5 and roll it onto the paper roll (winding) roller 4. Then the stainless steel foil strip roll 5 is sent to the next vacuum ion residual glue removal cabin 9 along with the connected guide belt through the guide roller 8.

[0207] Connect the driving mechanism of the stainless steel unwinding roller and the driving mechanism of the paper unwinding roller, and close the chamber moving door 1-1 after the operation is completed. The driving mechanism is placed outside the chamber, and the main transmission servo motor 29 is connected to the main transmission reducer 32 through the main transmission coupling 30. The above three are all installed on the main motor fixing frame 31. The shaft of the main transmission reducer 32 extends into the unwinding chamber 1 and is connected to the stainless steel unwinding driving mechanism; the paper roll servo motor 33 is connected to the paper roll reducer 34, and both are installed at the corresponding positions of the rear side wall of the unwinding chamber 1. The shaft of the paper roll reducer 34 extends into the chamber and is connected to the paper roll driving mechanism.

[0208] The chamber vacuum pumping system is placed outside the chamber, and the mechanical pump 27 is connected to the Roots pump 28 through the unwinding chamber vacuum pipeline 7, and the damper valve 6 is used to control the low vacuum of the chamber. After reaching the standard, the damper valve 6 is closed, and the high vacuum in the chamber is pumped by the molecular pump 2. The operation control of the unwinding chamber 1 is carried out on the operating table 37.

[0209] The second vacuum ion glue removal chamber 9 comprises: a plasma glue removal chamber, a molecular pump 23, a plasma glue removal chamber frame 24, a high-voltage glow discharge etching glue removal device component I and a columnar arc electron source (glue removal) etching device component II.

[0210] The plasma residual glue removal chamber is connected to the unwinding chamber and is interconnected. The plasma residual glue removal chamber is supported on the plasma residual glue removal chamber frame 24. The foil tape enters this chamber from the unwinding chamber 1. Because the foil tape has been covered with a protective paper tape, there will be residual adhesive on the tape surface of the foil tape, which must be thoroughly removed first. If the foil tape is heated first, the residual adhesive will evaporate or deteriorate due to the heat, which will pollute the atmosphere in the furnace and make it more difficult to remove the dirt attached to the foil tape.

[0211] The chamber is equipped with a gas supply port and a gas distribution pipe, through which argon gas is supplied, and a negative bias voltage is applied between the foil and the chamber wall by a negative bias voltage application device (at the end of the rear adjacent chamber), so that glow discharge argon plasma is generated in the chamber, and the foil is bombarded and cleaned by glow discharge argon plasma to remove residual glue. This ion cleaning intensity is slightly insufficient.

[0212] The present invention particularly adopts two ion glue removal facilities, one of which is high-voltage glow discharge plasma cleaning and glue removal, and the other is self-developed proprietary technology columnar arc electron source enhanced argon plasma for bombardment cleaning to remove residual glue. The plasma residual glue removal chamber is a flat box, which is supported on the plasma residual glue removal chamber frame 24 at the bottom, and a window is opened on the front side. The key components of the high-voltage glow discharge etching residual glue removal component and the key components of the columnar arc electron source (glue removal) etching component are respectively fixed in the support drawer box 41-0, and supported on a mobile trolley. The drawer can be pushed in or pulled out of the chamber from the front side window of the chamber. The end plate of the drawer box is the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and the vertical panel and the window frame are closed to complete the sealing. The molecular pump 23 is used to draw a high vacuum in the chamber.

[0213] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a high-voltage glow discharge etching and removing adhesive residue device I for an ion-based residual adhesive removal chamber. The high-voltage glow discharge etching and removing adhesive residue device I comprises: a first moving trolley assembly and an ion-based residual adhesive removal high-voltage rod assembly. The first moving trolley assembly comprises: a moving trolley 40, a pulley assembly, a high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, a sliding head assembly connecting the sealing door bracket and the trolley, and a supporting drawer box 41-0. The pulley assembly is installed at the bottom of the moving trolley 40, and the moving trolley can be easily pushed into the chamber along the guide rail together with the high-voltage rod assembly on the trolley. The high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 consists of a vertical panel and a frame. The vertical panel is a sealing door, and its chamber direction is a sealing surface. The components extending into the chamber, such as high-voltage rods or cathode arc targets, etc., all pass through and support the sealing insulation on the vertical panel. The vertical panel has a frame structure in the direction of the moving trolley so as to be connected to the body of the moving trolley. The sliding head assembly connecting the sealing door bracket and the trolley is used to flexibly connect the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 with the moving trolley 40. The supporting drawer box 41 - 0 is in a groove shape, and one end surface of the groove is fixedly connected to the vertical panel bracket 41 to form a drawer shape for supporting working parts extending into the chamber.

[0214] Figure 5The figure is a partial enlarged schematic diagram of the pulley assembly I-II. The pulley assembly includes a pulley seat 55, a hexagon socket head screw 56, a pulley shaft 57, a pulley spacer 58, a deep groove ball bearing 59, a pulley hub 60, and an elastic retaining ring 61 for the shaft. The pulley seat 55 is fixed to the bottom plate of the mobile trolley 40 by a hexagon socket head screw 56. Two vertical plates are vertically welded on the bottom plate of the pulley seat 55. The two vertical plates have through holes, and the pulley shaft 57 is inserted into the sleeve. The right end of the pulley shaft 57 has a convex shoulder to position it on the shaft hole, and the left end is limited by an elastic retaining ring 61 for the shaft, and the pulley shaft 57 is fixed on the through hole between the two vertical plates of the pulley seat 55. The pulley shaft 57 is sleeved with pulley spacer rings 58 on the left and right sides of the inner sides of the two vertical plates, and two deep groove ball bearings 59 are sleeved in the middle. The outer periphery of the above-mentioned bearing is sleeved with a pulley hub 60 to achieve rolling.

[0215] Figure 6 The schematic diagram of the sliding head I-III for connecting the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket and the mobile trolley is partially enlarged. The specific structure of the connector is shown. The trolley connector 66 with a convex shoulder is inserted into the hole of the mobile trolley 40, and they are fixed together with a hexagon socket cylindrical head screw 65. The other end of the trolley connector 66 is inserted into the hole of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and is inserted into the trolley connector spacer 64 with a convex ring. The outer end surface of the trolley connector 66 is basically flush with the hole end surface of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket, and the trolley connector retaining ring 63 is pressed on, and then the above two are fixed together with the trolley connector 66 with a hexagon socket cylindrical head screw 62. One of the holes of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 or the holes of the mobile trolley 40 is a long hole groove, so the trolley connector 66 can be flexibly slid and adjusted to take position. The ion-removing residual glue high-voltage rod assembly includes a plasma-removing residual glue high-voltage rod 42, a high-voltage rod insulating seat 43, a high-voltage rod sealing plate 44 and a high-voltage rod sealing introduction joint I-I. The end of the plasma cleaning adhesive residue high voltage rod 42 is a sealed introduction joint Ⅰ-Ⅰ. The plasma cleaning adhesive residue high voltage rod 42 passes through the vertical panel of the high voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 and is sealed and fixedly connected through the sealed introduction joint Ⅰ-Ⅰ. The tail end of the plasma cleaning adhesive residue high voltage rod 42 is provided with a high voltage rod sealing plate 44, and an upper high voltage rod insulating seat 43 seated on the support drawer box 41-0 supports the tail end of the plasma cleaning adhesive residue high voltage rod 42. The high voltage rod is placed horizontally under the foil strip conveyed forward along the width of the foil strip.

[0216] Figure 4The diagram is a partial enlarged schematic diagram of the Ⅰ-Ⅰ high-voltage rod sealing introduction structure in FIG3. The high-voltage rod sealing introduction structure includes a lead shaft 45, a small round nut 46, a washer 47, a hexagon socket head screw 48, a lead insulation seat 49, an O-ring 50, a liner nut 51, a hexagon socket head screw 52, ​​a shielding cover 53 and an O-ring 54. The lead shaft 45 is a stepped shaft with a large lower end and a thin upper end. The front section of the lower end has a coarse thread for threaded connection with the plasma-removed adhesive high-voltage rod 42. The rear of the lead shaft is a convex shoulder. The rear section of the convex shoulder is a relatively thin diameter round shaft with a thread at the upper end. The lead insulation seat 49 is a sleeve insulator with a convex ring at one end. It penetrates the hole on the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, is fixed with a hexagon socket head screw 48, and is sealed at the end face with an O-ring 50. The thin upper shaft of the lead shaft 45 is inserted upward from the lower end of the lead insulation seat through hole, and after the gasket 47 is inserted into the upper end surface of the lead insulation seat convex ring, it is tightened and fixed with a small round nut 46. At this time, the upper end surface of the lower convex shoulder of the lead shaft is against the lower end surface of the lead insulation seat 49, and the inner surface is sealed with an O-ring 54. The lining nut 51 is welded and fixed to the back of the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and then the shielding cover 53 is fixed to the lining nut 51 with a hexagon socket head screw 52 to protect the lead insulation seat 49 from contamination.

[0217] The working principle of high-voltage glow discharge etching and removing residual glue in the ion residual glue removal chamber: During the commonly used glow discharge cleaning work, a certain pressure of argon gas is introduced into the vacuum chamber, and a negative bias of 600V to 700V is applied to the furnace wall of the workpiece foil strip to generate glow discharge argon plasma. Argon ions bombard the work surface under the negative pressure of the workpiece, generating a reverse sputtering effect, which can remove impurities on the workpiece surface. Since the argon ion mass is relatively light, the particle energy of the 600-700V bias is still not large enough, so the present invention uses a special high-voltage rod to apply a negative voltage of -1500V or higher to the furnace wall to generate a high-voltage glow discharge, and obtain a higher energy argon plasma. The higher energy argon ions have a stronger bombardment effect on the workpiece and are more thorough in removing residual glue on the foil strip surface.

[0218] The columnar arc electron source (glue removal) etching device assembly II in the ion removal residual glue chamber is another glue removal device installed at the same time. Figure 7 shows the structure of two sets of parallel columnar arc electron sources, which are installed on the same mobile trolley and are placed on the support drawer box 41-0 through the sealed insulation connection and support with the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket.

[0219] The columnar arc electron source includes: a rotating columnar cathode arc target body 67, a rotating columnar cathode arc target joint 67-2, a rotating columnar cathode arc target insulating seat 67-1, an arc electron source shielding plate 70, an arc electron source side window 68, an arc electron source end shielding plate 73, a water inlet bellows 69, a return water bellows 72, an arc electron source gas supply pipe 71, and an auxiliary anode assembly.

[0220] The right end of the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target 67 passes through the sealed door of the ion etching cleaning sealed door bracket 41-1 through the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target joint 67-2, and is sealed and insulated and fastened to lead out of the chamber, and is connected to the negative pole of the external arc power supply (not shown) (the positive pole of the power supply is connected to the furnace chamber wall and grounded). The left end of the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target is insulated and supported in the drawer by the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target insulating seat 67-1. The rotating cylindrical cathode arc target 67 is horizontally placed parallel to the bottom of the foil tape conveyed forward along the foil tape width direction. The rotating cylindrical cathode arc target 67 is provided with a rotating cylindrical arc electron source shielding plate 70 in the direction of the foil tape and around the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target 67 to prevent the arc discharge plasma when the cathode arc is started from directly irradiating the foil tape. An arc electron source side window 68 is left beside the shielding plate; an auxiliary anode rod 85 is installed at an appropriate position in the space between the upper shielding plate and the foil tape above the cathode arc front shielding plate, and a positive potential is applied to the auxiliary anode rod 85. The cooling water is introduced through the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1, and enters the cyclonic cooling water channel welded on the baffle plate through the water inlet bellows 69 to cool the baffle plate. The return water is discharged out of the chamber through the return water pipe and the return water bellows 72.

[0221] The arc electron source gas supply pipe 71 is placed near the columnar cathode arc target.

[0222] Figure 8The auxiliary anode assembly structure of the arc electron source is shown, which consists of an anode joint assembly and an anode rod assembly. The right end is the anode joint assembly, which includes: a quick joint 74, an anode water joint 75, an anode joint 76, a hexagon socket head screw 77, an insulating sleeve 78, an O-ring 79, an anode sealing flange 80, an anode mounting plate 81, an O-ring 82, and an anode joint insulation 83. The anode joint 76 is a hollow tube with a complex shape. The right end head has an internal thread, a convex shoulder flange in the middle section near the right end, and the left end is narrowed in diameter and has a thread. The internal thread of the right end head of the anode joint is fixedly connected to the thread of the anode water joint 75, and its upper end is connected to the quick joint 74 to become a water inlet. The anode water joint 75 is connected to the water inlet conduit, which passes through the hollow inner tube cavity of the anode joint 76 and extends into the inner tube cavity of the anode rod (hollow) 85. The right end of the anode connector 76 has a side opening, which is connected to another quick connector 74 and communicated with the inner tube cavity annular return water channel of the anode connector 76 to form a return water outlet. The anode mounting plate 81 is fixed to the sealing door of the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1 by screws, and is sealed by an O-ring 82. The anode sealing flange 80 with a flange sleeve on the end face is inserted from the left end of the anode connector 76, and the flange end face is made to abut against the convex shoulder flange end face of the anode connector 76. The left end of the anode connector 76 together with the anode sealing flange 80 is passed through the through hole of the anode mounting plate 81 and the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41, and the anode insulating flange 80 is pressed on the anode mounting plate 81. The anode connector is insulated and fixedly connected to the anode mounting plate 81 through the flange hole by a hexagon socket head screw 77 with an insulating sleeve 78, and is sealed by two O-rings 79. A tubular anode terminal insulator 83 is installed in the gap between the ion etching cleaning sealing door bracket 41-1 and the anode terminal to ensure insulation.

[0223] The anode rod assembly includes: an anode rod insulating sleeve 84, an anode rod 85, an O-ring 86, an O-ring 87, a cathode rod plug 88, an anode rod insulating seat 89, and a hexagon socket head screw 90. The anode rod is a hollow tube, and its right end has an internal thread connected to the small diameter external thread on the left end of the anode joint to achieve electrical connection. The left end of the anode rod has an anode rod plug 88 to plug the anode rod (tube) end, and is sealed with O-rings 87 and 86. The lower left end of the cathode rod is supported by an anode rod insulating seat 89, which is fixed to the support drawer box 41-0 with a hexagon socket head screw 90. The right end of the anode rod is covered with an anode rod insulating sleeve 84, which is sleeved with the anode joint insulating sleeve 83 installed between the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket 41 and the anode joint pore to ensure that the anode rod is insulated and not contaminated. The water inlet conduit connected to the anode water connector 75 passes through the hollow cavity of the anode rod 85 to the right end, and the water flows out of the conduit at high speed and flows back along the annular water channel formed by the outer wall of the conduit and the inner wall of the anode rod tube to cool the anode rod. Working principle of columnar arc electron source:

[0224] First, a negative bias is applied to the foil strip against the furnace wall, and an appropriate amount of argon gas is supplied into the chamber to generate a glow discharge argon plasma. Argon ions bombard the foil strip under the negative bias to remove the residual glue. However, the usual glow discharge bombardment energy is insufficient. The technical feature of the scheme of the present invention is to use a proprietary columnar arc electron source to enhance the glow discharge argon plasma for bombardment etching and glue removal. The principle is: the columnar arc electron source mainly includes a columnar cathode arc target and an auxiliary anode rod and its corresponding power supply. The columnar cathode arc source (target) and the auxiliary anode rod are respectively inserted horizontally into the chamber from different positions on the sealing door, parallel to the foil strip conveyed above, and longer than the width of the foil strip. The columnar cathode arc target has a shielding plate in the direction of the foil strip and around it to prevent the arc discharge plasma when the cathode arc is started from directly shooting at the foil strip. A side window is left on the side shielding plate, and the auxiliary anode rod is located above the shielding plate in front of the columnar cathode arc and at an appropriate position in the space between the upper shielding plate and the foil. When a positive potential is applied to the anode rod, the electron flow in the arc plasma is drawn out from the above-mentioned side window and enters the space between the above-mentioned upper shielding plate and the foil, collides and exchanges energy with the argon glow discharge plasma already existing in this space, thereby enhancing the ionization rate, energy and concentration of the argon plasma at this location, thereby enhancing the blasting and cleaning of the foil by the argon plasma and strengthening the effect of removing residual glue.

[0225] The third heating chamber includes a heating chamber 10, a heating chamber frame 25, a heater group 11, and a bias introduction device 13 for rollers 12. The heating section is installed on the right side of the unwinding section and is interconnected. The bottom of the heating chamber 10 is supported on the heating chamber frame 25. A heater group 11 is installed in the heating chamber 10, which is composed of a plurality of stainless steel jacketed resistance heating tubes arranged horizontally side by side. A roller 12 is placed at the left end of the heating chamber 10, which supports the foil above the heater group 11, and is heated while being transported. A bias introduction device 13 is placed next to the roller 12 to apply a negative bias to the foil, and the positive pole is the chamber wall. The chamber is equipped with a temperature measuring device and an external temperature control device. The heater power can be automatically adjusted to automatically control the temperature rise of the foil.

[0226] The fourth is the pre-plating ion bombardment etching chamber 14a, which includes an ion cleaning etching chamber and a columnar arc electron source (etching) II. The ion bombardment etching chamber 14a is installed on the right side of the heating chamber and is interconnected. The ion cleaning etching chamber is supported on the coating chamber frame 26. The foil strip with negative bias voltage enters this chamber, and the chamber is equipped with a gas supply inlet and a gas distribution pipe, through which argon gas is introduced, and glow discharge plasma is generated in the chamber, and the foil strip is cleaned by glow discharge argon ions. The intensity of this ion cleaning is insufficient.

[0227] The present invention particularly adopts its own technology, columnar arc electron source II, to enhance argon plasma etching and cleaning. Arc electron source II mainly includes a columnar cathode arc target and an auxiliary anode rod, and their structure and function are the same as the aforementioned arc electron source, and will not be repeated. The arc electron source used here has higher operating parameters, which is more conducive to enhancing the argon glow discharge plasma, so as to more effectively enhance the etching and cleaning effect of the foil, more thoroughly remove impurities and oxide scales, improve the film / substrate bonding force, and reduce film removal defects. Compared with the traditional technology of using multiple small circular arc etching and cleaning, the etching uniformity and reliability are better, and the large particles of plating material left on the coating to form a rough surface are avoided. Compared with the long strip anode layer ion source technology, it has low cost, easy maintenance and high reliability. In this device, the above-mentioned arc electron source adopts multiple groups of side-by-side configurations, which can perform continuous and effective and thorough etching and cleaning of the foil.

[0228] The fifth is the coating cabin 14b, which is divided into two halves, the front half is the cathode arc coating section, and the rear half is the medium frequency magnetron sputtering film section. The present invention uses two mainstream ion plating technology combinations on the same winding production line at the same time, which can make the advantages of different coating technologies complement each other. On the one hand, the most advantageous coating technology can be selected for different coating products to achieve the best effect, and one machine can be used to plate multiple coating products; on the other hand, the target positions of the two technologies can be adjusted to achieve alternating coating of different coatings with the two technologies to obtain ideal composite coating products.

[0229] The coating chamber 14b includes a coating chamber, a coating chamber frame 26, a planar rectangular cathode arc source device III, a rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering target device IV, a roller 12, a bias application device 13, an air supply pipeline, etc. (the latter three are not shown). The coating chamber is connected to the right side of the ion cleaning etching chamber and is interconnected. The bottom of the coating chamber is supported on the coating chamber frame 26. The coating chamber is divided into two halves, the front half is a planar rectangular cathode arc coating section, and the back half is a medium-frequency magnetron sputtering coating section. In the front half, the present invention abandons the scheme of forming an array of multiple small circular cathode arc sources, and adopts a new scheme of self-developed planar rectangular cathode arc source devices III with a combined magnetic field having a length greater than the bandwidth in parallel. The back half of the coating section adopts a scheme of arranging multiple rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering targets IV.

[0230] Figure 9a and Figure 9bThe structure of the planar rectangular cathode arc source device III is shown, which is composed of a planar rectangular cathode arc source and a moving trolley assembly. The figure shows the structure of two sets of parallel and side-by-side planar rectangular cathode arc sources. The planar rectangular cathode arc source III is composed of a target seat 91-1, a target material 91-2, a target pressure strip 91-3 and a planar rectangular cathode arc source connector 91-4. The target seat 91-1 is a planar rectangular shape, and the rectangular flat target material 91-2 is pressed on the target seat 91-1 by a target pressure strip 91-3 around the target material and screwed. The target seat 91-1 is connected to the sealed insulation of the planar rectangular cathode arc source sealed door bracket 41-2 on the moving trolley 40 through the planar rectangular cathode arc source connector 91-4, and is insulated and supported on the support drawer box 41-0. The planar rectangular cathode arc source is installed on the same moving trolley 40 as mentioned above.

[0231] This combined magnetic field plane rectangular cathode arc source is a patented product, which has the characteristics of long-term stable operation without arc extinguishing and high target material utilization, and can realize rapid large-area continuous uniform coating. Depending on the tape speed, the length of the coating area and the number of cathode arc targets are determined, and the cathode arc source is parallel to the foil tape transported above. In the coating section, gas supply ports and gas distribution pipes are set in different areas to realize zoned control of gas distribution. The use of plane rectangular cathode arc deposition coating is mainly used to solve the problem of gold-imitation titanium nitride film series products. The depth of the imitation gold color of the coating is adjusted by the amount of nitrogen supplied. Of course, the present invention also includes a solution for depositing coating using a rotating cylindrical cathode arc target. These improved solutions improve the color uniformity, stability, consistency and process reliability of the coating.

[0232] A plurality of rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering target devices IV are arranged in the rear half of the coating chamber. Fig.10a and Fig.10b The structure of the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target device IV is shown, which is composed of a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly and a moving trolley assembly. The rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly includes: a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target 92, a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target insulating seat 92-1 and a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target joint 92-2. The rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 extending horizontally into the chamber is sealed and insulatedly connected and supported with the medium frequency magnetron sputtering target sealing door bracket 41-3 on the moving trolley through the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target joint 92-2; at the same time, the tail end of the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target 92 is supported by a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target insulating seat 92-1 and fixed on the support drawer box 41-0. The rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly is installed on the same moving trolley 40 as mentioned above.

[0233] Rotating cylindrical medium-frequency magnetron sputtering targets are mainly used for coating complex color films, such as rose gold, champagne, etc. Practice has proved that the color of complex color films can be easily controlled by magnetron sputtering. The length of the coating section and the number of sputtering targets need to be determined according to the tape speed. The air supply port and air distribution pipe are also set in different areas to achieve zoned atmosphere control. This improved solution can achieve the goal of producing multiple color products from one machine, thereby improving equipment utilization and applicability. The coating chamber is provided with rollers 12 at the front or rear end of the chamber to support the foil being transported; a negative bias voltage application device 13 is also provided, which uses segmented multi-point negative bias application to reduce the adverse effects of the negative bias potential drop caused by the foil being too long and the increased resistance.

[0234] Figure 2 The schematic diagram of the top view of the metal foil strip winding ion plating continuous coating production line shows the vacuum exhaust system of the pre-plating ion cleaning etching section and the coating section. On the rear side of the above two sections of the chamber, a low vacuum exhaust main pipeline is placed horizontally in parallel with the chamber, that is, the coating chamber vacuum pipe 35. It is composed of several sections of hard pipes connected by bellows to reduce vibration transmission. It is divided into sections and connected to three groups of mechanical pumps 27 and Roots pumps 28 for exhaust. Six baffle valves 6 are provided on the coating chamber vacuum pipeline 35, which are respectively connected to the corresponding chambers to control the opening or closing of the connection. Each chamber has a lower molecular pump 23 and a valve (not shown) responsible for and controlling the high vacuum. In addition, a high-voltage cabinet 38 is placed on the same side of the above vacuum pipeline to supply high voltage electricity, such as negative bias, to the equipment. There is also a control cabinet 39, which is equipped with electrical and automation control devices for the equipment.

[0235] The sixth is the cooling and foil tension adjustment cabin 15. The cooling section includes a cooling chamber, a cooling roller 16, a weight roller 17 and a coating chamber frame 26. The cooling chamber is connected to the right side of the coating section and is interconnected. The lower part of the cooling chamber is supported on the coating chamber frame 26. The cooling roller 16 has two rollers, front and rear, and coolant flows through the rollers to conduct away the heat of the coated and heated foil attached to the roller surface to cool it down. The weight roller 17 is located above the two cooling rollers 16, and the three rollers are arranged in a herringbone shape. The foil is wound upward from the lower roller surface of the first cooling roller 16 to the surface of the weight roller 17, and then to the lower roller surface of the second cooling roller 16. The foil is in an S-shaped direction. This foil S-shaped tape walking device has the function of adjusting the unwinding roller of the unwinding chamber and the winding roller of the winding chamber to synchronously retract and release the foil. In addition, the S-shaped tape walking mechanism also has the function of correcting the deviation of the foil tape. (Both functions use conventional mechanical industry technology.)

[0236] The seventh is an online color detection chamber 18, which is the first time that a similar production line is equipped with an online coating color measurement device, which is one of the technical features of the present invention. The online color detection chamber 18 is connected to the right side of the fifth coating chamber and is interconnected. The online color detection chamber 18 includes a spectral color measurement chamber, a foil strip 93, a probe protection cover 94, an online optical detection monitoring and analysis reflection measurement probe 95, an online optical detection monitoring and analysis device 96, an optical fiber signal line 97, a control cabinet 98 and a coating chamber frame 26. The spectral color measurement chamber is supported on the coating chamber frame 26 at the bottom.

[0237] The three color surfaces of the coated foil are facing downwards, and the online optical detection, monitoring and analysis reflection measurement probe 95 is facing the color surface of the foil. There is a probe protection cover 94 between the foil and the probe to prevent damage to the probe. The spectrum reflected by the coating back to the probe is used for real-time color measurement, that is, the reflection spectrum enters the online optical detection, monitoring and analysis device 96 for analysis and calculation, and is transmitted to the control cabinet 98 through the optical fiber signal line 97, and the color value L*a*b* and color difference value are displayed and stored in real time. The staff will handle the display results in a timely manner. This is the first time that a color measurement device on the same production line is configured on the real line. It arranges several reflective spectral color measurement probes across the width of the foil. The color measurement signal is processed by software, and the lateral color difference distribution of the coating can be measured. It can also be quickly sampled during the forward process of the foil to continuously measure the longitudinal color difference changes. The measurement speed for each point is 1000ms each time.

[0238] Online real-time monitoring of color difference is conducive to timely adjustment of process parameters to ensure the uniformity and consistency of coating color.

[0239] The eighth is the winding cabin 19, which includes: unwinding chamber, molecular pump 2, foil trolley (unwinding) 22, protective paper roll (unwinding) 21, coated stainless steel coil (rewinding), 20 baffle valve 6, unwinding chamber vacuum pipeline 7, guide roller 8, mechanical pump 27, roots pump 28, main drive servo motor 29, main drive coupling 30, main drive reducer 31, main motor fixing frame 32, paper roll servo motor, 33 paper roll reducer, 34 operating table 37 and movable door 1-1, etc. The movable door 1-1 shown in the figure is a push-pull type in a closed state. The winding chamber 19 is connected to the right side of the spectral color measurement chamber 18 and is interconnected. The coated foil conveyed from the spectral color measurement chamber 18 enters the foil winding roller through the guide roller 8 and is wound into a coated stainless steel coil 20. The protective paper roll 21 is sleeved on the paper unwinding roller. When the coated stainless steel coil is wound and rotated, the paper unwinding roller rotates synchronously, and the protective paper of the protective paper roll 25 is attached to the coated surface of the coated stainless steel to prevent scratches on the tape surface during winding and unwinding. The coated stainless steel coil 20 is placed on the foil trolley (unwinding) 22. The transmission power mechanism is placed outside the chamber, and the main transmission servo motor 29 is connected to the main transmission reducer 32 through the main transmission coupling 30. The above three are all installed on the main motor fixing frame 31. The shaft of the main transmission reducer 32 extends into the unwinding chamber 1 and is connected to the stainless steel unwinding drive mechanism; the paper roll servo motor 33 is connected to the paper roll reducer 34, and both are installed at corresponding positions on the rear side wall of the unwinding chamber 1. The shaft of the paper roll reducer 34 extends into the chamber and is connected to the paper roll drive mechanism. The chamber vacuum pumping system is placed outside the chamber, and the mechanical pump 27 is connected to the Roots pump 28 through the unwinding chamber vacuum pipe 7, and the damper valve 6 is used to control the low vacuum of the chamber. After reaching the standard, the damper valve 6 is closed, and the molecular pump 3 is used to pump high vacuum in the chamber. The unwinding chamber is controlled on the operating table 37.

[0240] 4 Operation example of the metal strip winding vacuum continuous coating method of the present invention

[0241] Take the TiN-plated gold-like decorative film as an example.

[0242] Preparation: hoist the whole roll of stainless steel foil that has been cleaned and covered with protective paper onto the foil trolley, and put it on the take-up roller of the foil trolley, open the push-pull movable door of the unwinding chamber, pull out the guide belt that has been rolled on the take-up roller from the chamber and passes through the chambers of the production line to the unwinding chamber, connect it with the end of the foil to be coated, weld the two firmly with a special welding machine, and then push the foil trolley together with the stainless steel foil roll to be plated into the unwinding chamber along the guide rail at the bottom of the chamber, connect the drive mechanism of the unwinding roller, separate the protective paper on the foil roll, and wind it around the take-up paper roller, and connect the take-up paper roller drive mechanism.

[0243] Foil roll test conveying and system test operation: Open the movable door of the winding chamber at the end of the production line and observe the foil test operation. First, start the winding main drive servo motor to drive the winding roller drive mechanism. The winding roller rotates to tighten the guide belt. Then start the unwinding main drive servo motor to drive the unwinding roller drive mechanism to make the unwinding and winding rollers rotate synchronously. Similarly, start the unwinding and unwinding paper roll servo motors to make the unwinding protective paper stick to the winding foil. At the same time, observe whether the foil and paper roll are winding and unwinding. Through repeated forward and reverse operation, check and confirm that the longitudinal tension of the belt is balanced and will not deviate sideways, and the winding and unwinding are synchronized. Then return to the starting position of the foil roll feeding, check whether the cooling water temperature, pressure, and flow are normal, check whether the air supply and instrument indication are normal, and check whether the contact of the biasing device is normal. After checking that everything is normal, close the front and rear movable doors, pump rough low vacuum, start the mechanical pump, open the baffle valves connecting each chamber, and pump air to each chamber. After reaching the standard, start the Roots pump to continue pumping air. After reaching the standard, close the rough pumping baffle valve; start the molecular pumps of each chamber and switch to high vacuum; turn on the heating chamber heater, heat and pump air at the same time, until the vacuum reaches the background, and the heating chamber reaches the preset temperature for insulation. When all chambers of the entire production line have reached the background vacuum, start to observe whether the high-voltage glow discharge is normal, and then observe whether the columnar arc electron source, the planar rectangular cathode arc source, and the rotating columnar medium-frequency magnetron sputtering target are working normally.

[0244] The following is a brief introduction to the operation of several workstations having the technical features of the present invention.

[0245] First, observe the working condition of the high-voltage glow discharge etching of the ion removal residual glue section. At this time, the foils of each chamber are still in the guide section. Argon gas is first input. After reaching the working pressure vacuum, a negative bias voltage (generally negative 400v--800v) is applied to the foil, so that the argon glow discharge plasma generated in the space between the foil and the chamber wall plays a glow ion bombardment and cleaning role on the surface of the foil. Because the foil was previously covered with protective paper, there will still be residual adhesive on the surface of the foil after the protective paper is torn off, which must be removed first. If the residual adhesive enters the heating section, the adhesive will evaporate, decompose, and carbonize, which will pollute the furnace atmosphere and the surface of the foil, affecting the color of the coating and the reduction of the bonding strength of the coating, as well as the occurrence of coating film loss and heterochromatic spots. However, the cleaning ability of argon glow discharge is relatively weak, and its bombardment cleaning force is insufficient. The present invention scheme particularly adopts a high-voltage glow discharge degumming method: a high-voltage rod is added in the chamber, and the negative voltage is increased to more than 1500v to generate high-voltage glow discharge argon plasma, which has higher particle energy and has a stronger degumming effect than the usual glow bombardment cleaning under the same negative bias of the foil. During the trial operation, pay attention to the stability of the high-voltage glow discharge and the uniformity of the color distribution of the argon plasma.

[0246] Another technical characteristic method of ion etching to remove residual glue is to use a columnar arc electron source to enhance the glow discharge argon plasma for enhanced etching to remove the residual glue. The procedure is as follows: first input argon gas into the chamber to reach the working pressure vacuum, apply a negative bias voltage (generally negative 400v--800v) to the foil, and generate argon glow discharge plasma in the space between the foil and the chamber wall. However, the cleaning ability of argon glow discharge is relatively weak, and its bombardment and cleaning strength is insufficient. The scheme of the present invention is specially configured with a columnar arc electron source, and the columnar cathode arc of the columnar arc electron source is started to generate arc discharge, and a strong target material (titanium) arc plasma is emitted in front of the arc target. A shielding plate is placed in front of the columnar cathode arc source to block the titanium metal ion flow and titanium metal vapor flow emitted by the arc source. At this time, the auxiliary anode located above the shielding plate is started. The powerful electron flow in the arc plasma in the enclosure is attracted by the positive potential of the auxiliary anode and is guided from the side window of the shielding plate to the space between the foil and the upper shielding plate, where it collides and exchanges energy with the argon glow discharge plasma, increasing its ionization rate, energy and concentration, and enhancing the activation of the glow discharge argon plasma. Under the negative bias of the steel belt, the enhanced argon plasma produces a stronger bombardment effect, which plays a more effective role in ion cleaning, and removes the residual adhesive on the surface of the foil more thoroughly, making the foil cleaner. When observing the trial operation, pay attention to the stability of the cathode arc and auxiliary anode electrical parameters of the arc electron source, observe the stability and uniformity of the columnar arc plasma, and observe the original contamination degree and adhesive removal effect of the visual foil. Then select the cathode arc source and auxiliary anode electrical parameters, and confirm that the columnar arc electron source with residual adhesive removal is working normally.

[0247] Then follow the same procedures and methods as in the previous section (no repetition), observe the columnar arc electron source enhanced glow discharge argon plasma cleaning and etching trial operation in the ion etching chamber, adjust the arc target and auxiliary anode operating parameters based on its etching effect on the foil, and inspect and confirm that the columnar arc electron source in the ion etching section is working completely normally.

[0248] Then, TiN test plating is carried out in the coating section. Argon and nitrogen are introduced according to the preset argon-nitrogen ratio and flow rate through a multi-channel mass flowmeter, and the gas distribution is controlled in different areas. When each area reaches the preset working pressure, the planar rectangular cathode arc is turned on to perform reactive arc deposition to synthesize TiN. The arc light stability and uniformity of each arc source and the arcing situation are observed. According to the set tape speed, the temperature of the foil and the required film thickness, the current size parameters of the target and the negative bias value are selected. Several targets and the targets at that position are selected as needed to participate in the coating. Observe and confirm that each planar rectangular cathode arc source and the negative bias are working properly.

[0249] Then, turn on the instrument for real-time color segment measurement and check that the instrument is in normal working condition. Finally, complete the equipment commissioning test.

[0250] After completing and confirming that the above-mentioned test runs are normal, proceed to the formal coating operation.

[0251] Officially enter the continuous winding coating process:

[0252] Introduce working gas argon and reaction gas nitrogen into the corresponding chambers to reach the predetermined working pressure, apply negative bias, and generate argon glow discharge in the corresponding chambers. Start the foil feeding and paper feeding rollers, start the high-voltage rods of the adhesive removal chamber to transmit high voltage or start the columnar arc electron source (or both at the same time), start the columnar arc electron source of the ion etching chamber, and start the combined magnetic field plane rectangular cathode arc source of the coating chamber.

[0253] The foil strip passes through the guide roller of the unwinding chamber and enters the ion residual adhesive removal chamber. The foil strip is bombarded and cleaned by high-voltage glow discharge argon plasma or glow discharge argon plasma enhanced by an arc electron source, which strengthens the removal of residual adhesive and makes the foil strip cleaner.

[0254] The foil then enters the heating section, where it is continuously heated to reach the preset temperature rise and insulation time. After heating, the foil enters the ion cleaning etching section, where a columnar arc electron source is used to enhance the glow discharge argon plasma enhanced bombardment etching, and the foil is continuously cleaned and etched with high-energy ions to remove surface pollutants and oxide scales, and to improve the film / substrate bonding more effectively. The chamber is equipped with multiple columnar arc electron sources side by side, and one or more can be selected for continuous enhanced ion etching.

[0255] After being supported by rollers and etched clean, the activated foil strip enters the coating section. Several combined magnetic field plane rectangular cathode arcs emit strong and highly active titanium arc plasma, together with the reaction gas nitrogen introduced by the zoned gas distribution, and under the action of bias, the foil strip is subjected to continuous arc reaction ion plating to form a TiN film. The foil strip is coated while being transported, and the film layer gradually thickens and leaves the final coating target position when the predetermined color value and thickness are reached. (Note: The latter part of the coating section is equipped with multi-pillar medium-frequency magnetron sputtering titanium aluminum targets, which are used for coating TiAlN films and are prepared to obtain rose gold and other color films.)

[0256] The coated foil is transported to the cooling chamber, where two cooling rollers and a weight roller are placed. The two cooling rollers are at the bottom, and the weight roller is at the top, in a finished product shape. The foil passes around the three rollers in an S-shaped running form. When the foil passes around the two cooling rollers at the bottom, cooling liquid flows through the cooling rollers to accelerate the cooling of the coated foil. The weight roller in the S-shaped running area has the function of adjusting and correcting the foil to maintain constant tension and left and right deviations.

[0257] After the foil is cooled by the second cooling roller, it enters the online spectral colorimetric chamber. In the chamber, there is an online spectral reflectance color difference measurement system placed under the foil, and several reflective spectral colorimetric probes are arranged along the width of the foil. The color signal of the TiN coating reflectance spectrum is measured with a rapid detection of 1000ms per point each time. The reflected spectrum signal enters the online optical detection monitoring and analysis device for analysis and calculation, and is transmitted to the control cabinet through the optical fiber signal line to display and store the color value L*a*b* and color difference value in real time. The foil can be sampled quickly during its forward movement, and the longitudinal color difference change of the foil can be continuously measured, and the lateral color difference distribution of the foil along the bandwidth at the same longitudinal position can be measured simultaneously. The operator can adjust the process parameters in time according to the color difference value monitored online in real time to achieve uniformity and consistency of coating color.

[0258] The foil tape that has been transported out of the spectral colorimetric chamber and has undergone colorimetric testing enters the winding chamber, passes through the guide roller, and enters the foil tape winding roller to be wound into a coated stainless steel coil. While the foil tape is being wound, the protective paper of the paper roll on the paper placing roller next to it is synchronously attached to the coated surface of the foil tape to protect the color surface.

[0259] After the whole roll of foil is coated, the ion removal of residual glue, heating, ion bombardment etching, coating and color measurement procedures in the front chamber are stopped, the high vacuum valves of each chamber are closed, the chamber is inflated, and the push-pull chamber door on the right side of the unwinding chamber is opened. The connection between the drive mechanism of the foil winding roller and the protective paper roll unwinding roller is separated, and the rail car and the coated stainless steel coil on it are pulled out of the chamber through the guide rail docking with the outside. The above completes the continuous reaction TiN coating operation cycle of the stainless steel foil roll.

[0260] If medium frequency magnetron sputtering target is used for coating, or the arc and sputtering targets are adjusted to coat overlapping composite layers simultaneously, the coating procedure is basically the same as above.

Claims

1. A metal foil roll-to-roll vacuum coating continuous production line, comprising an unwinding cabin (1), a heating cabin (10), an ion bombardment etching cabin (14a), a coating cabin (14b), a cooling and foil tension adjustment cabin (15) and a winding cabin (19) which are vacuum-connected in sequence, wherein: The coating cabin (14b) comprises: The coating chamber is a plurality of interconnected flat boxes supported on a coating chamber frame (26). The coating chamber is divided into two sections, the front section is a planar rectangular cathode arc coating section, and the rear section is a medium frequency magnetron sputtering coating section. Windows are opened on one side of each box in the front and rear sections, and rails perpendicular to the frame are provided on one side of the frame corresponding to each window. A planar rectangular cathode arc source device (III) comprises a planar rectangular cathode arc source (91) and a third moving trolley assembly identical to the first moving trolley assembly, wherein the planar rectangular cathode arc source including a target material (91-2) is fixed on a vertical panel and located in a support drawer box; the first moving trolley assembly comprises: a moving trolley (40), a pulley assembly, a high-voltage rod sealing door bracket (41) and a support drawer box (41-0); the pulley assembly is installed at the bottom of the moving trolley (40) and travels on the track perpendicular to the frame, and a high-voltage rod sealing door bracket (41) is provided on the vertical panel, which is composed of a frame and a vertical panel parallel to the window on the side of the coating chamber; the surface of the vertical panel facing the window is a sealing surface and is designed to be sealed corresponding to the window frame of the window; a groove-shaped support drawer box (41-0) extending toward the window is fixed on the vertical panel; A rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target device (IV) comprises a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly and a fourth movable carriage assembly identical to the first movable carriage assembly, wherein the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly comprising a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target (92) is fixed on a vertical panel and is located in a supporting drawer box (41-0); By moving the respective moving carriages back and forth on tracks perpendicular to the frame, the planar rectangular cathode arc source (91) and the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target (92) respectively mounted on the moving carriage assembly are pushed into or pulled out of the coating chamber from corresponding windows.

2. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The movable trolley (40) is connected to the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket (41) above it via a connecting sliding head assembly, the structure of which is as follows: a trolley connector (66) with a convex shoulder is inserted from bottom to top into the vertical hole of the bottom plate of the movable trolley (40), and they are fixed together by a connecting piece, the upper end of the trolley connector is inserted into the vertical hole of the bottom plate of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket, and is sleeved in the trolley connector spacer (64) with a convex ring, a trolley connector retaining ring (63) is provided to be clamped on the vertical hole of the bottom plate of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket, and the trolley connector retaining ring (63) is fixed to the trolley connector by a connecting piece; one of the vertical holes of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket or the vertical hole of the movable trolley is a long hole groove.

3. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The planar rectangular cathode arc source (91) of the planar rectangular cathode arc source device (III) comprises a target seat (91-1), a target material (91-2), a target pressure strip (91-3), a planar rectangular cathode arc source connector (91-4) and a connecting seal; the target pressure strip (91-3) is pressed on the periphery of the rectangular flat target material (91-2) and is fixed to the planar rectangular target seat (91-1) by a connecting piece; the target seat (91-1) is sealed and insulatedly connected to the vertical panel of the planar rectangular cathode arc source sealing door bracket (41-2) on the moving trolley (40) through the planar rectangular cathode arc source connector (91-4) and is insulated and supported on the supporting drawer box (41-0); the planar rectangular cathode arc source is installed on the same aforementioned moving trolley (40); when the moving trolley pushes the planar rectangular cathode arc source into the coating chamber, the target material (91-2) extends along the width direction of the steel foil strip and is located below the steel foil strip being transported forward.

4. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly of the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target device (IV) comprises: a rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target (92), a rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target insulating seat (92-1), a rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target joint (92-2) and a connecting seal; the right end of the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target (92) is connected to the intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target sealing door bracket (41-3) on the moving trolley through the rotating cylindrical intermediate frequency magnetron sputtering target joint (92-2). The panels are sealed and insulated; at the same time, the tail end of the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target (92) is supported by a rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target insulating seat (92-1) and fixed on the support drawer box (41-0); the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly is installed on the moving trolley (40), and when the moving trolley (40) pushes the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target assembly into the coating chamber, the rotating cylindrical medium frequency magnetron sputtering target (92) extends along the width direction of the steel foil strip and is located below the steel foil strip being transported forward.

5. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: A molecular pump is also provided for forming a high vacuum in the coating chamber (14b), and a negative bias device is provided for applying a negative bias between the metal foil strip and the chamber wall.

6. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 5 is characterized in that: An online real-time coating color spectrum monitoring cabin is added between the cooling and belt tension adjustment cabin (15) and the winding cabin (19), and comprises: A spectral colorimetric chamber (18), a probe protection cover (94), an online optical detection, monitoring and analysis reflection measurement probe (95), an online optical detection, monitoring and analysis device (96), an optical fiber signal line (97), a control cabinet (98) and a coating chamber frame (26); the spectral colorimetric chamber (18) is supported on the coating chamber frame (26); the coated foil strip (93) conveyed is facing downward with its color surface, the online optical detection, monitoring and analysis reflection measurement probe (95) below it faces the color surface of the foil strip, a probe protection cover (94) is provided between the foil strip and the probe to prevent damage to the probe, and the spectrum reflected back to the probe by the coating is used for real-time color measurement, that is, the reflection spectrum enters the online optical detection, monitoring and analysis device (96) for analysis and calculation, and is conveyed to the control cabinet (98) through the optical fiber signal line (97), and the color value L*a*b* and the color difference value are displayed and stored in real time.

7. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 6 is characterized in that: A vacuum ion residual glue removal cabin (9) is also provided between the unwinding cabin (1) and the heating cabin (10); The vacuum ion residual glue removal cabin comprises: The plasma residual glue removal chamber is a flat box supported on a plasma residual glue removal chamber frame (24). The chamber is divided into two sections, front and rear sections. The front section is a high-voltage glow discharge etching residual glue removal section, and the rear section is a columnar arc electron source etching section. Two front and rear windows are opened on the side of the chamber. One side of the frame corresponding to the two windows is provided with a track perpendicular to the frame. The high-voltage glow discharge etching and residual glue removal device assembly (I) comprises an ion residual glue removal high-voltage rod assembly and a first movable carriage assembly; the ion residual glue removal high-voltage rod assembly comprising a plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod (42) is fixed on the vertical panel and is located in the support drawer box; A columnar arc electron source etching device assembly (II) comprises a columnar arc electron source and a second movable carriage assembly identical to the first movable carriage assembly; the columnar arc electron source is fixed on the vertical panel and is located in the support drawer box; By moving the respective moving carts back and forth on the tracks perpendicular to the frame, the plasma residual glue cleaning high-voltage rod (42) and the columnar arc electron source respectively installed on the moving cart assembly can be pushed into or pulled out of the chamber from the corresponding windows.

8. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 7 is characterized in that: The ion residual glue removal high-voltage rod assembly comprises a plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod (42), a high-voltage rod insulating seat (43), a high-voltage rod sealing plate (44) and a high-voltage rod sealing introduction joint (Ⅰ-Ⅰ); the right end of the plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod (42) passes through the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket (41) through the high-voltage rod sealing introduction joint (Ⅰ-Ⅰ) and is sealed and fixedly connected, and then connected to the negative pole of the high-voltage rod dedicated power supply, and the positive pole of the dedicated power supply is grounded; the left end of the plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod (42) is provided with a high-voltage rod sealing plate (44), and the high-voltage rod insulating seat (43) fixed on the support drawer box (41-0) supports the tail of the plasma residual glue removal high-voltage rod (42); when the support drawer box (41-0) is pushed into the chamber, the high-voltage rod extends along the width of the foil and is located below the foil conveyed forward.

9. The metal foil strip winding type vacuum coating continuous production line according to claim 8 is characterized in that: The columnar arc electron source comprises: a rotating columnar cathode arc target body (67), a rotating columnar cathode arc target joint (67-2), a rotating columnar cathode arc target insulating seat (67-1), an arc electron source shielding plate (70), an arc electron source side window (68), an arc electron source end shielding plate (73), a water inlet bellows (69), a water return bellows (72), an arc electron source gas supply pipe (71) and an auxiliary anode assembly; the right end of the rotating columnar cathode arc target body (67) passes through the vertical panel of the high-voltage rod sealing door bracket (41) through the rotating columnar cathode arc target joint (67-2) and is sealed and fixed, and then connected to the negative pole of the arc power supply, and the rotating columnar cathode arc target insulating seat (67-1) fixed on the supporting drawer box (41-0) supports the tail end of the rotating columnar cathode arc target; when the supporting drawer box (41-0) is pushed into the chamber, the rotating column The rotating cylindrical cathode arc target (67) extends along the width of the foil strip and is located below the foil strip being transported forward; the rotating cylindrical cathode arc target (67) is provided with a rotating cylindrical arc electron source shielding plate (70) facing the direction of the metal foil strip and the periphery thereof, and an arc electron source side window (68) is left beside the shielding plate; above the rotating cylindrical arc electron source shielding plate (70), above the space between the upper shielding plate and the foil strip, an auxiliary anode rod (85) of an auxiliary anode assembly is installed, and a positive potential is applied to the auxiliary anode rod (85); a cooling water inlet is introduced through a high-voltage rod sealing door bracket (41) and enters the hollow rotating cylindrical cathode arc target (67) cavity through a water inlet bellows (69); after the cooling water circulates and cools in the above cavity, the return water flows out of the target cavity, and is guided out of the cavity through a return water inlet pipe and a return water bellows (72); and an arc electron source gas supply pipe (71) is placed near the cylindrical cathode arc target.

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