Abrasion resistant coatings with color component for gemstones and such
View Patent ↗In accordance with the present invention, there are provided methods for imparting abrasion wear resistant color to “gemstones” by providing an integrated coating consisting of the color imparting agent and the abrasion wear resistant agent. The color imparting agent may provide the perception of color via interference phenomena or via bulk absorption phenomena. Abrasion wear resistance may be provided by integrating any of the materials such as DLC (diamond-like carbon), CVD diamond (CVDD), alumina, polymer-based materials, nitrides and carbonitrides. Abrasion wear resistant properties of DLC or CVDD may be further improved, in addition to improvement of other mechanical properties and inducing hydrophobicity, by incorporating certain elements into the deposited film.
1. A method for imparting a wear-resistant color layer to a gemstone surface, the method comprising:
concurrently codepositing via simultaneous vapor depositions of two or more species on the gemstone surface a color imparting agent using a first deposition module with an abrasion wear resistant agent using a second, independently controlled deposition module, to form a wear resistant color matrix.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of continuing only the deposition of the abrasion wear resistant agent over the top surface of the wear resistant color matrix.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the abrasion wear resistant agent is selected from the group consisting of diamond-like carbon (DLC) and chemical vapor deposition diamond (CVDD).
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein a thickness of the wear resistant color matrix is between about 5Åto 2 microns.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of continuing only the deposition of the abrasion wear resistant agent to form a wear layer over the top surface of the wear resistant color matrix wherein a thickness of the wear layer is between about 50Åto hundreds of angstroms.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the color imparting agent is selected from the group consisting of Au, Pt, Cr, Fe, Si, and Ge.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the color imparting agent is selected from the group consisting of oxides (e.g. SiO 2 , T 10 2 , Al 2 O 3 , V 2 O 3 , Fe 2 O 3 , Cr 2 O 3 , NiO, Ta 2 O 5 etc.) nitrides (e.g. TiN X , ZrN, TaN), alloys (Au/Ag/Cu etc) and composites (e.g. TiZrN, TiCN, TiC x N y , ZrC x N y etc) of metals.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of co-depositing the color imparting agent with the abrasion wear resistant agent includes magnetron deposition, RF or high density plasma deposition process, and ion beam deposition processes.
9. The method of claim 1 , further including the step of applying a hydrophobic coat after the concurrently codepositing step.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of applying a hydrophobic coat includes applying a sol gel.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of applying the sol gel includes one selected from the group consisting of dip coating, angle-dependent coating, spray coating, laminar flow coating, spin coating, and capillary coating.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein sol gel used includes at least one of SiO 2 , TiO 2 , ZrO 2 , and Al 2 O 3 .
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of applying a hydrophobic coat includes using a vapor deposition process.
14. The method of claim 1 , further including the step of incorporating F, B, N, or Si into the wear resistant agent to impart hydrophobicity into the wear resistant color matrix.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of co-depositing the color imparting agent with the abrasion wear resistant agent includes a sol gel process.
16. The method of claim 5 , wherein the wear layer is formed to a thickness such that such layer does not visually affect the color of the gemstone when viewed through the wear layer.
17. The method of claim 8 , wherein the application of the abrasion wear resistant agent to form the wear layer includes a sol gel process.