Multi-Coloured Ceramic Bezel With Laser-Ablated Relief Decoration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing ceramic or cermet watch components with decorative elements are costly and complex, often resulting in non-uniform colors and mechanical assembly challenges, such as soldering or gluing, which complicates the integration of distinct color decorations.
Innovation Solution
A manufacturing method involving multi-material compression followed by laser ablation to create relief decorations, allowing for the machining of distinct colors in a single piece without mechanical assembly, ensuring uniform color distribution and aesthetic integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If decorative elements are added by soldering or gluing on the sintered blank, then the decoration can be applied, but the manufacturing process becomes costly and complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple manufacturing operations (forming, decorating, and assembling) into a single multi-material compression process. Different colored materials are compressed together in one operation to create the final component with integrated decoration, eliminating the need for separate soldering or gluing steps and reducing both manufacturing complexity and assembly complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the material into multiple colored components during the compression stage, allowing each material to be formed with its specific color and properties before being integrated into the final piece. This segmentation enables color differentiation without requiring post-sintering assembly operations
2Manufacturing precision
If a solution comprising metal pigment is used to impregnate the green body, then color can be added, but uniform color distribution in the mass is difficult to obtain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by using distinct colored materials for different regions of the component. Each material maintains its own color properties throughout the compression and sintering process, ensuring uniform color distribution in each region without requiring impregnation solutions that are difficult to distribute evenly
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite materials with different color characteristics that are compressed together. Each material contributes its own color uniformly to the final product, avoiding the color uniformity problems associated with impregnating the green body with metal pigment solutions
3Stability of the object's composition
If mechanical assembly is used to add decorative elements, then decoration can be applied, but the integration between decoration and component is discontinuous
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the decorative elements and the main component into a single integrated piece through multi-material compression. The different colored materials are compressed together and sintered as one continuous structure, eliminating discontinuities and the need for mechanical assembly while maintaining structural integrity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs the integration action preliminarily during the compression stage rather than after sintering. By combining all materials into a single continuous structure before sintering, the method ensures seamless integration without requiring subsequent assembly operations
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The method enables the production of ceramic and/or cermet articles with integrated, uniform color decorations, reducing costs and complexity by eliminating the need for mechanical assembly and ensuring a seamless integration of decorative elements with the rest of the component.
Implementation Method 1
Machining, by laser ablation, the second material on the green body or on the blank to produce the relief decoration
Implementation Method 2
Filling and compressing the first material within the first compression tool, Filling and compressing the second material on the first material within the first compression tool or within the second compression tool to obtain a green body
Implementation Method 3
Sintering the green body to form a blank
Data Source
AI summary
A cermet and/or ceramic multi-coloured article, and in particular a bezel (1) of a timepiece, produced by a method for compressing at least two materials (2, 3) of distinct colours, the article including a relief decoration (8) of a different colour from the rest of the article, the decoration (8) being produced by laser ablation on one of the materials (3) after compression of the two materials (2, 3).