Laminated member, timepiece, and method for manufacturing laminated member

Abstract

To provide a laminated member capable of securing functionality and appearance, and a method for manufacturing the laminated member.SOLUTION: A laminated member (40) according to one aspect includes a base material (42) made of a first material containing a metal and having grooves (45a) formed at a predetermined pitch, and a protective film (43) laminated on the base material (42) and having a plurality of grooves (46a) formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of grooves (45a) of the base material (42), wherein the protective film (43) is made of a material different from a metal oxide film of the first material and also different from a metal nitride film of the first material.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a laminated member, a timepiece, and a method for manufacturing a laminated member. [Background technology]

[0002] Patent Document 1 describes a configuration for obtaining a highly decorative processed product by forming a coating on a substrate made of a metal material having a first uneven portion formed with a plurality of fine uneven portions, the coating being made of a reaction product between components of the metal material of the substrate and gas components of a reactive gas, and having second uneven portions formed in positions corresponding to the first uneven portions. However, such a coating containing the same metal material as the substrate has a problem in that it is easily worn and scratched because it is thin. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-212451 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The present invention aims to improve and solve the problems of this situation, and to provide a laminated member, a watch, and a method for manufacturing a laminated member that can ensure wear resistance and scratch resistance while enhancing decorativeness. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A laminated member according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises a substrate made of a first material containing a metal and having grooves formed thereon at a predetermined pitch, and a protective film laminated on the substrate and having a plurality of grooves formed thereon at positions corresponding to the plurality of grooves in the substrate, wherein the protective film is made of a material different from the metal oxide film of the first material and different from the metal nitride film of the first material. [Effects of the Invention]

[0006] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a laminated member, a watch, and a method for manufacturing a laminated member that can ensure functionality and appearance. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a timepiece according to an embodiment. [Figure 2] 1 is an image of a part of a color-exhibiting member (parallel grooves) according to an embodiment, viewed from the front side. [Figure 3] 1A to 1C are explanatory diagrams showing the configuration and manufacturing method of a color-exhibiting member according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] (A) is an image of a portion of the color-exhibiting member according to Modification 1 viewed from the front side. (B) is an image of a portion of the color-exhibiting member according to Modification 2 viewed from the front side. (C) is an image of a portion of the color-exhibiting member according to Modification 3 viewed from the front side. [Figure 5] 10 is a plan view showing a configuration of a part of a color-exhibiting member according to Alternative Embodiment 1. FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a partial configuration of a color-exhibiting member according to another embodiment 2. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0008] A color member 40 as a laminated member according to a first embodiment of the present invention and a method for manufacturing the color member 40 will be described below with reference to Figures 1 to 3. In this embodiment, an example will be shown in which the color member 40 is used as an exterior member of a watch 1.

[0009] The watch 1 shown in Fig. 1 is, for example, a wristwatch worn on a user's wrist. The watch 1 comprises a watch case 10 and a watch module (not shown) installed inside the opening of the watch case 10. The watch 1 also comprises a watch band 31 connected to the outer periphery of the watch case 10, and multiple switches 15 arranged on the outer periphery of the watch case 10.

[0010] The watch case 10 has a circular case body 11 with an opening, a back cover 12 arranged on the back side (rear side) of the watch module 20, a bezel 13 arranged around the outer periphery of the front side of the case body 11, and a transparent cover 14 that covers the front side (front side) of the opening of the case body 11, inside which the watch module 20 is provided. The watch case 10, together with the case body 11 and back cover 12, forms an accommodation space in which the watch module 20 is placed. As an example, the components of each part, such as the case body 11, back cover 12, bezel 13, and cover 14, are concentric, or in the case of a rectangular shape such as an octagon, have the same shape, and are shaped to follow the outer shape of the components to be assembled together.

[0011] The clock module 20 includes a display unit with a dial and hands that display information such as the time and date, a movement that operates the display unit, a circuit board equipped with electronic components such as an IC and an antenna, a battery, and other components necessary for clock functions. For example, the clock module 20 may be a digital type having a liquid crystal display panel or the like with a digital display function, or it may be an analog type.

[0012] At least some of the components of the timepiece 1 that are visible from the outside, such as the watch band 31, the case body 11, and the back cover 12, are made up of a coloring member 40 that has a coloring structure 44 that exhibits a structural color.

[0013] 2 and 3, the coloring member 40 is a laminated member including a base material 42 and a protective film 43 formed on the surface of the base material 42, and constitutes a coloring structure 44. For example, the coloring member 40 is at least one of a watch band, a watch cover, a bezel, a crown, a dial, and a case back. In this embodiment, the coloring structure 44 is formed on the surface of a watch band 31, which serves as the coloring member 40, for example.

[0014] The substrate 42 is made of a first material containing metal and is configured into a predetermined shape that constitutes an exterior member. For example, the first material is preferably a high-hardness metal material to improve the durability of the surface microstructure. For example, the first material may include any of cobalt alloy, titanium, titanium alloy, and stainless steel. It is desirable to increase the hardness of various materials by treating the base material to harden it. Furthermore, the material is not limited to metal, and may also contain inorganic compounds such as cermets and ceramics. The surface of the substrate 42 has recesses or protrusions, and a first uneven portion 45 that constitutes the color structure 44 is formed.

[0015] The first uneven portion 45 is formed, for example, on the surface layer of the substrate 42 and has a plurality of fine grooves 45a (concave portions) arranged at equal intervals in a predetermined first direction. That is, the plurality of grooves 45a are formed at a predetermined pitch on the surface of the substrate 42. For example, the first uneven portion 45 is configured by alternating a plurality of grooves 45a extending parallel to each other in the second direction with a plurality of convex portions 45b formed between adjacent grooves 45a. A protective film 43 is further formed on the surface of the first uneven portion 45. The laminated member of the first uneven portion 45 and the protective film 43 exhibits an interference color due to the interference of light caused by the unevenness, and exhibits an appearance different from the appearance due to, for example, the material of the protective film 43. For example, the first uneven portion 45 is configured so that a reflective diffraction grating appears on the surface of the protective film 43 formed on the surface. There are various processing methods for forming the first uneven portion 45. Examples of precision and microfabrication include mechanical processing, laser processing, electron beam processing, etc., as well as nanoimprinting using molds made using these processing methods and methods that use the transfer properties of amorphous alloys.

[0016] For example, in the first concave-convex portion 45, the width W1 of each groove 45a in the arrangement direction (X direction) is set to less than 100 μm. Also, the width W2 of the top surface of the convex portion 45b between a pair of adjacent grooves 45a is set to less than 15 μm. The arrangement pitch (processing interval) W3 of the grooves 45a in the arrangement direction (X direction) is set to, for example, 1.4 μm or more and less than 115 μm.

[0017] The protective film 43 is made of a second material different from the first material constituting the substrate 42. The second material is different from the metal oxide film of the first material and also different from the metal nitride film of the first material. To improve the durability of the surface microstructure, the second material is harder than the first material. For example, the protective film 43 is a coating made of a hard material and is formed on the surface of the substrate 42, including the first uneven portion 45. Examples of materials for the protective film 43 include titanium (Ti), zirconium (Zr), aluminum (Al), chromium (Cr), tungsten (W), molybdenum (Mo), silicon (Si), niobium (Nb), etc., or combinations of these materials with nitrogen (N), carbon (C), oxygen (O), hydrogen (H), etc., or these materials alone or in combination. For example, a hard protective film can be a combination of diamond-like carbon (DLC), TiN, TiC, TiCN, etc. As an example, the material of the protective film 43 includes diamond-like carbon.

[0018] In this embodiment, the protective film 43 is made of diamond-like carbon (DLC). The protective film 43 is formed, for example, as a thin, highly uniform film and has a surface shape that matches the surface shape of the substrate 42. As an example, the protective film 43 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 42. The protective film 43 is formed on the surface of the substrate 42 by, for example, vapor deposition, sputtering, IP, or the like. The shape of the first uneven portion 45 of the substrate 42 is reflected on the formed surface of the protective film 43. That is, the surface of the protective film 43 is formed with a second uneven portion 46 that has an uneven shape corresponding to the first uneven portion 45 of the substrate 42 and exhibits a structural color. The protective film 43 is layered on the substrate 42, and multiple grooves 46a are formed at positions corresponding to the multiple grooves 45a of the substrate 42, and the uneven surface generates light interference that exhibits a color on the surface. It should be noted that a thin protective film 43 has poor abrasion resistance, whereas a thicker protective film 43 increases film stress, resulting in poor adhesion, and may fill the grooves in the base, preventing the formation of an uneven structure on the surface of the protective film 43. Therefore, it is preferable that the thickness of the protective film 43 be on the order of several μm. For example, the thickness of the protective film 43 is 0.5 μm or more and less than 10 μm. For example, the pitch of the grooves 46a formed in the protective film 43 is within a range of 1.4 μm or more and less than 115 μm.

[0019] The second uneven portion 46 appearing on the surface of the protective film 43 extends along a predetermined first direction (Y direction) and is configured by a plurality of alternating fine grooves 46a (concave portions) arranged in a row in the second direction and convex portions 46b formed between adjacent grooves 46a. The second uneven portion 46 forms a surface shape that separates light of different wavelengths using a repeating structure within the diffraction grating. For example, the second uneven portion 46 has a color structure in which either the amplitude or the phase, or both, of incident light changes, causing interference fringes in the emitted light. The second uneven portion 46 forms a striped pattern and exhibits various colors depending on the viewing angle, resulting in a rainbow of colors.

[0020] Therefore, the color structure 44 that exhibits structural color is formed by the first uneven portion 45 of the substrate 42 and the second uneven portion 46 of the protective film 43 formed thereon. The color structure 44 diffracts and disperses incident light due to its fine structure such as unevenness, thereby exhibiting a color different from that of the protective film 43.

[0021] A method for producing the color member 40 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. The method for producing the color member 40 according to this embodiment includes a surface processing treatment (step ST1) for forming an uneven structure on the surface of the substrate 42, and a film formation treatment (step ST2) for forming a protective film 43 on the surface of the substrate 42 after the surface processing treatment.

[0022] In the surface processing step ST1, a first uneven portion 45 having an uneven structure is formed on the surface of a substrate 42 made of a first material such as a metal material. The processing device is configured to allow various conditions, such as the intensity of the irradiated light, the type of light, output, etching depth, scanning direction, scanning distance, and scanning pitch, to be set for each area. For example, the processing conditions can be set by setting the surface finish state through the processing device settings. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, a processing device such as a laser processing machine 50, which can set the processing area and processing conditions, irradiates the surface of the substrate 42 with laser light to form multiple grooves 45a extending along the first direction and arranged in parallel in the second direction (X direction) at a predetermined pitch, thereby forming the first uneven portion 45 having a fine uneven structure. As an example, a laser beam spot diameter of 1 μm or more but less than 50 μm is used to form the first uneven portion 45 with a pitch W3 of 1.4 μm or more but less than 115 μm.

[0023] Furthermore, after the surface processing treatment (step ST1), a film formation treatment (step ST2) such as vapor deposition, sputtering, or IP is performed to form a protective film 43 by depositing a material such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) as a second material on the surface of the substrate 42 on which the first uneven portion 45 has been formed. At this time, as shown in FIG. 3 , by depositing the protective film 43 uniformly to a thickness t1 in the range of 0.5 μm or more and less than 10 μm, a second uneven portion 46 having an uneven shape that follows the surface shape of the first uneven portion 45 of the substrate 42 is formed on the surface of the protective film 43. As an example, the protective film 43 is formed on the entire surface of the substrate 42.

[0024] With the coloring member 40 and watch 1 configured as described above, a first uneven portion 45 having a fine uneven structure constituting the coloring structure 44 is formed on the surface of the substrate 42, thereby forming a second uneven portion 46 that exhibits color on the surface of the protective film 43 formed on the surface of the substrate 42. Therefore, a desired color can be produced regardless of the thickness or color of the protective film 43. For example, DLC is normally black, but depending on the surface shape of the substrate 42, when light enters the surface of the protective film 43, light is scattered, resulting in a rainbow color. Therefore, a variety of patterns can be produced regardless of the film thickness. Furthermore, because the coloring member 40 according to the above embodiment exhibits color through an uneven structure, it is not subject to bleaching by ultraviolet light or the like and is highly durable.

[0025] The above-described embodiments are merely illustrative and do not limit the scope of the invention. For example, in the above-described embodiments, the first and second uneven portions 45 and 46 each have a shape in which multiple parallel-extending fine grooves 45a, 46a are arranged at a predetermined pitch. However, this is not limiting. As long as the first and second uneven portions are arranged at a predetermined pitch, the grooves may be curved or straight. For example, as a first modification, a color structure 44A shown in FIG. 4(a) may have multiple arc-shaped grooves 45a arranged concentrically. As a second modification, a color structure 44B shown in FIG. 4(b) may have multiple grooves 45a extending in multiple different directions. For example, the multiple grooves 45a extend in directions perpendicular to each other. Alternatively, as a third modification, a color structure 44C shown in FIG. 4(c) may have at least one groove 45a and may have a lattice-like configuration in which multiple unit structures 49, each having the shape of a single basic unit, are continuously formed. For example, the unit structure 49 is formed by combining a plurality of grooves 45a extending in different directions.

[0026] In the above embodiment, one type of color structure 44 is formed over the entire surface of the color member 40, but this is not limiting. For example, the color structure 44 may be formed only in a partial area of ​​the surface of the exterior member. For example, each surface may be mirror-finished, with the color structure 44 only in a predetermined partial area. For example, in a color member 40A shown in FIG. 5 as another embodiment 1, the color structure 44 is formed in a portion of a checkerboard-patterned area, and the remaining area is a mirror-finished mirror surface 104. Furthermore, as another embodiment 2, the color member 40B shown in FIG. 6 may have a plurality of color structures 44, 44D with different surface processing conditions. For example, the color member 40B is configured to have a predetermined pattern as a whole, consisting of a collection of multiple different color structures 44, 44D. In other words, the contrast that occurs between multiple colored structures 44, 44D with different surface conditions, or the contrast that occurs between the colored structure 44 and a non-colored surface such as the mirror surface 104, gives each region a different appearance, and various patterns can be expressed, such as a crystalline pattern, camouflage pattern, carbon pattern, plain weave pattern, or fiber pattern.

[0027] Furthermore, while the above embodiment shows an example in which the coloring member is applied to a watch band, this is not limited to this. For example, it can be applied to other components of the watch 1, such as the cover, bezel, crown, dial, and back cover. Furthermore, it is not limited to the watch 1, and can be applied to a variety of other items.

[0028] Although several embodiments of the present invention have been described, the present invention is encompassed within the scope of the invention described in the claims and their equivalents. [Explanation of symbols]

[0029] 40...coloring member (laminate member), 42...substrate, 45...first uneven portion, 43...protective film, 46...second uneven portion.

Claims

1. a substrate made of a first material including a metal and having grooves formed thereon at a predetermined pitch; a protective film laminated on the base material, the protective film having a plurality of grooves formed at positions corresponding to the plurality of grooves of the base material; The protective film is made of a material different from the metal oxide film of the first material and different from the metal nitride film of the first material.

2. The plurality of grooves are arranged parallel to one another, The laminated member according to claim 1 , wherein the protective film having the plurality of grooves formed therein generates light interference that gives the surface a color due to the unevenness of the surface.

3. the first material includes any one of a cobalt alloy, titanium, a titanium alloy, and stainless steel; The laminated member according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the protective film includes diamond-like carbon.

4. The laminated member according to claim 1 , wherein the material of the protective film is harder than the first material.

5. The laminated member according to claim 1 , wherein the pitch of the grooves formed in the protective film is in the range of 1.4 μm or more and less than 115 μm.

6. The laminated member according to claim 1 , wherein the protective film has a thickness of 0.5 μm or more and less than 10 μm.

7. A laminated member according to any one of claims 1 to 6, The laminated member is at least one of a watch band, a watch cover, a bezel, a crown, a dial, and a back cover.

8. forming grooves at a predetermined pitch on a surface of a substrate made of a first material including a metal; forming a protective film on the substrate, the protective film being made of a material different from the metal oxide film of the first material and different from the metal nitride film of the first material; A method for manufacturing a laminated member, comprising forming a plurality of grooves on the surface of the protective film at positions corresponding to the plurality of grooves in the base material.

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