Patterned Stainless Steel Sheet for Low-Glare Sparkle Retention
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for producing stainless steel sheets with improved visual characteristics, such as low reflectance and low glare, often require separate washing, polishing, or plating processes, which increase complexity and costs, and fail to maintain the inherent sparkle of the material.
Innovation Solution
A method involving cold deformation of stainless steel sheets, followed by heat treatment and mechanical treatment, such as skin-pass rolling or blasting, to create a patterned surface with low reflectance and low glare while retaining sparkle, using a pattern device and subsequent heat treatment to achieve desired surface properties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If separate washing, polishing, or plating processes are used to improve visual characteristics, then surface quality is improved, but manufacturing complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple surface treatment operations (cold deformation, heat treatment, mechanical treatment, and patterning) into an integrated manufacturing sequence that achieves low reflectance and low glare surfaces without requiring separate washing, polishing, or plating processes. The patterning step, performed using a pattern device during cold deformation, creates the desired visual characteristics as an inherent part of the manufacturing process rather than as a subsequent finishing operation.
2Manufacturing precision
If separate washing, polishing, or plating processes are used to improve visual characteristics, then surface quality is improved, but manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates surface treatment into the main manufacturing flow, where cold deformation and patterning operations create the low reflectance surface as a direct result of the forming process. This eliminates the need for separate, costly finishing operations such as polishing or plating, thereby reducing manufacturing costs while achieving the desired surface quality.
3Manufacturing precision
If conventional methods are used to reduce reflectance and glare, then visual characteristics are improved, but the inherent sparkle of stainless steel is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies patterning at a micro-scale level during cold deformation, creating localized surface features that control light reflection. The pattern device imprints a regular pattern of ridges and valleys on the surface, which scatters light to reduce glare while preserving the metallic sparkle. This local modification of surface topology achieves the desired visual characteristics without uniformly dulling the entire surface.
4Manufacturing precision
If cold deformation and patterning are applied to achieve low reflectance, then visual characteristics are improved, but surface homogeneity may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent controls the patterning process parameters, including the pattern device geometry, cold deformation conditions, and heat treatment parameters, to achieve a balance between creating surface patterns for low reflectance and maintaining overall surface homogeneity. The heat treatment step following cold deformation helps uniformize the surface properties while preserving the patterned structure, ensuring consistent visual characteristics across the entire sheet.
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 results in a surface with superior homogeneity, low specular reflectance, and a sparkling appearance, reducing manufacturing costs and maintaining the material's liveliness, with continuous processing ensuring uniform quality.
Implementation Method 1
The deformed stainless steel sheet is heat treated before the patterning treatment at the temperature range of 900-1200° C.
Implementation Method 2
first cold deformed, such as cold rolled, in order to have a stainless steel sheet having a desired reduction degree
Implementation Method 3
mechanical treatment, such as skin-pass rolling or blasting, to create a patterned surface with low reflectance and low glare
Data Source
AI summary
A method for producing a patterned stainless steel sheet with improved visual characteristics in the wavelength area of visible light including providing a deformed stainless steel sheet; performing a heat treatment on the deformed stainless steel sheet, wherein the heat treatment is conducted at a temperature of 900-1200° C.; performing a mechanical treatment on at least one surface of the heat treated stainless steel sheet; transferring the mechanically treated stainless steel sheet to a patterning process, wherein, in the patterning process, at least one side of the mechanically treated stainless steel sheet is patterned using a patterning roll having a surface with an emboss depth of up to 100 micrometers to provide a patterned stainless steel sheet; and performing a heat treatment on the patterned stainless steel sheet, wherein the heat treatment is conducted at a temperature range of 900-1200° C., wherein the mechanical treatment is carried out by blasting.