| Pacific Rim Symposium on Surfaces, Coatings and Interfaces (PacSurf 2014) | |
| Thin Films | Monday Sessions |
| Session TF-MoE |
| Session: | Electronics and Displays on Flexible and Hard Substrates |
| Presenter: | Colin Hall, University of South Australia |
| Authors: | C. Hall, University of South Australia K. Zuber, University of South Australia E. Downey, University of South Australia E. Charrault, University of South Australia D. Evans, University of South Australia P. Murphy, University of South Australia |
| Correspondent: | Click to Email |
The use of polymers to replace traditional materials in the automotive, aerospace and other industries is continuing at a high pace. Polymers offer distinct advantages over glass and metals, such as weight, impact strength, and the ability to be formed into complex shapes. To ensure long service life, however, in some applications the polymers must be coated to provide protection from damage due to mechanical abrasion or chemical attack. This coating can also enhance the plastic's functionality, such as changing its optical, electrical or surface properties.
One such example of this is the development of a highly durable plastic mirror through the deposition of a physical vapour deposition (PVD) multi-layer stack.1,2 The growth of sputtered layers on plastic substrates requires the use of a relatively thick “hardcoating” (some 3 to 8 µm thick). This hardcoating is used in the ophthalmic and automotive industries and is typically a thermal cured organosilicone nanocomposite resin. Subsequently, a silica and chromium PVD multilayer was deposited to form the durable mirror coating. In developing this coating system to meet automotive glass mirror performance, it was found that there were substrate dependant effects on the sputtered layers characteristics. That is, the type of hardcoating had a direct influence on the growth of the sputtered layers. Interestingly, it was found that the mechanical properties of this hardcoating correlated with changes in optical, electrical and mechanical properties of the grown multi-layer stack.
The understanding developed has aided in the successful commercialisation of the plastic mirror, as the spotter mirror in the Ford F250 truck. However, as the plastic/hardcoat/PVD architecture is used extensively elsewhere (ophthalmic and decorative coatings) the phenomenon is of wide interest.
1. C. Hall, S. Field, K. Zuber, P. Murphy, D. Evans, Corros. Sci., 69 (2013) 406-411.
2. C. Hall, P. Murphy, S. Field, K. Zuber, D. Evans, 56th Annual SVC Technical Conference Proceedings, Providence, FL., (2013).