Multi-colored Ceramic Housing via Masked Pigment Sintering
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing ceramic housing manufacturing techniques for electronic devices often result in single-colored components, lacking the aesthetic and functional benefits of multi-colored designs, and existing coloring methods may not provide durable, integrated color solutions.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the formation of a ceramic green body with a binder, debinding to create porosity, applying a mask to define areas, immersing in a pigment bath to achieve distinct coloration, and sintering to integrate pigments within the ceramic structure, preventing pigment migration through the mask and ensuring embedded color durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If traditional ceramic housing manufacturing techniques are used, then single-colored components are produced, but multi-colored designs and aesthetic benefits are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is divided into multiple colored portions (first portion with first color, second portion with second color) through selective masking during the coloring process. This segmentation allows different regions of the same ceramic housing to exhibit different colors while maintaining a unified structural component.
Solution Approach 2:
Different portions of the ceramic housing are given different local qualities (colors) by applying pigments selectively to specific regions. The first portion receives a first pigment while the second portion receives a second pigment, creating local color variations within the same component.
2Ease of manufacture
If pigments are applied to ceramic surface, then coloration is achieved, but color durability and resistance to machining are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The pigments are incorporated into the ceramic material during the green body formation stage, before the ceramic is sintered. This preliminary incorporation ensures that the pigments become an integral part of the ceramic structure, making the color durable and resistant to machining operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The ceramic housing is formed as a composite material containing ceramic particles, binder, and pigments uniformly distributed throughout the green body. This composite structure ensures that the pigment color is embedded within the material matrix rather than applied as a surface coating.
3Manufacturing precision
If mask is applied to prevent pigment penetration, then distinct color regions are achieved, but pigment migration control becomes critical
Solution Approach 1:
The mask is applied to the green body before the pigment application step to define the boundaries between different colored regions. This preliminary masking ensures that when pigments are applied, they only penetrate into the unmasked portions, creating sharp color boundaries without requiring complex post-processing to control migration.
Solution Approach 2:
The mask acts as an intermediary barrier that controls pigment penetration into the ceramic green body. By placing the mask on specific portions before pigment application, it mediates which areas receive pigment and which areas remain uncolored or receive different pigments, achieving precise color region definition.
4Quantity of substance
If debinding is performed to create porosity, then pigment absorption is enhanced, but structural integrity must be maintained
Solution Approach 1:
The green body is subjected to debinding to create a porous structure with controlled porosity. This porous structure enhances the absorption capacity of the green body, allowing pigments to penetrate deeply and uniformly throughout the material during the coloring process, while the remaining binder maintains sufficient structural integrity.
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
This process enables the creation of multi-colored ceramic housings with embedded pigments, providing durable, scratch-resistant surfaces and allowing for machining without color loss, as the pigments are integrated within the ceramic material, enhancing the aesthetic and functional properties.
Implementation Method 1
debinding to create porosity
Implementation Method 2
immersing in a pigment bath to achieve distinct coloration
Implementation Method 3
sintering to integrate pigments within the ceramic structure
Data Source
AI summary
A method of manufacturing a housing of an electronic device includes applying a mask to a portion of a ceramic green body to define a masked portion and an unmasked portion, applying a pigment to the ceramic green body to color the unmasked portion, and sintering the ceramic green body to remove the mask and form a ceramic housing. The ceramic housing may comprise a first portion corresponding to the masked portion and having a first color, and a second portion corresponding to the unmasked portion and having a second color different from the first color.