Metallizing

Metallizing is the general name for the technique of coating metal on the surface of non-metallic objects. Vacuum Metalizing is the process of evaporating and deposition of metals (most commonly aluminum) inside a vacuum chamber to achieve a thin uniform metalized layer on a substrate.

The purpose of metallizing is to:

Enhance barrier properties of the film so that water vapor and oxygen transmission across the film is reduced. Depending on end use application e.g. synthetic yarn (zari), decoration, wrapping, and holography.

Science of Metallization !

In a vacuum metallization process we maintain our substrate and the material to be coated in below atmospheric (near vacuum) pressure levels. Therefore at pressures of near 5x10-5 bar the coated material (in this case aluminum) if heated to temperatures of 1500 -1600C straightaway enter the vapor phase. This vapor is then made to deposit via condensation over the substrate which is being rolled over a cooled drum.

A broad outline of a vacuum Metallizer is shown below:

The various systems of a metallizer are: Vacuum System Condensation System Evaporation & heating system Unwinder, rewinder & web handling

Vacuum System:
The vacuum system consists of

Diffusion pumps Roots blower Rotary piston pumps Cryogenic Panel(s)

The metallizing chamber and the winding chamber are maintained at different pressure levels. Therefore as reflected in the above P&I the metallizing zone has more pumps of more pumping capacity e.g. diffusion pumps.

Diffusion Pumps: The oil diffusion pump is operated with an oil with low vapor pressure. Its purpose is to achieve higher vacuum (lower pressure) than possible by use of positive displacement pumps alone. Diffusion pumps cannot discharge directly into the atmosphere, so a mechanical forepump is typically used to maintain an outlet pressure around 0.1 mbar. The high speed jet is generated by boiling the fluid and directing the vapor through a jet assembly. Within the nozzles, the flow changes from laminar, to supersonic and molecular. Often several jets are used in series to enhance the pumping action. The outside of the diffusion pump is cooled using either air flow or a water line. As the vapor jet impacts the outer cooled shell of the diffusion pump, the working fluid condenses, is recovered, and directed back to the boiler. The pumped gases continue flowing to the base of the pump at increased pressure, flowing out through the diffusion pump outlet, where they are compressed to ambient pressure by the secondary mechanical forepump and exhausted.

Roots Blower: The Roots type supercharger or Roots blower is a positive displacement type device which operates by pulling air through a pair of meshing lobes not unlike a set of stretched gears. Air is trapped in pockets surrounding the lobes and carried from the intake side to the exhaust. Because rotary lobe pumps need to maintain a clearance between the lobes, a single stage roots blower can only pump gas across a limited pressure differential. If the pump is used outside its specification, the compression of the gas generates so much heat that the lobes expand to the point that they jam, damaging the pump. The roots pump is never used as a stand alone pump in high vacuum applications but its high pumping speed can be used to reduce the end pressure and increase the pumping speed of other vacuum pump systems in the medium to low vacuum range. Roots pumps are capable of pumping large volumes but as they only achieve moderate compression, it is not uncommon to see multiple roots blower stages, frequently with heat exchangers (intercoolers) in between to cool the gas. The lack of oil on the pumping surfaces allows the pumps to work in environments where contamination control is important. The high pumping rate for hydrocarbons also allows the roots pump to provide an effective isolation between oiled pumps, such as rotary compression pumps, and the vacuum chamber.

Roots Blower Diagram: 1 rotary vane 1 2. pump body 3. rotary vane 2 a. intake b. pumping c. forced air or air-fuel mixture into intake manifold

Rotary Piston Pumps: These are responsible for ensuring proper expulsion of air derived from vacuum chamber. Also upon adding pumping capacity of the rotary piston pumps the overall pumping capacity is increased manifold.

Cryogenic Panel: The cryogenic panel has a flow of refrigerant inside it. This is responsible fro the removal of water vapor via condensation. The cryogenic temperatures are formed using a polycold unit. Removal of water vapor in the form of condensate ensures that there wont be any moisture (due to trapped air) in the coating chamber which can affect the quality of metallization.

Condensation System: The condensation system consists of: Process drum Drum shield Shield cooling

The process drum is supplied with chill water supply and is responsible for the condensation of the aluminum vapor onto the film.
The process drum has very high surface finish and optimum wrapping angle in order to ensure maximum heat transfer. The inlet temperature for chill water in process drum is 15-16C.

Evaporation & heating system:

This system is responsible for the heating and evaporation of the A wire: Boats: They are a set of sintered ceramic boats across the width of the web. These are 2 component ceramics of titanium boride and boron nitride. They are made to withstand high temperatures and thermal shocks. It is supplied with thyristor controlled supply with very high current. Boats are installed using graphite tapes to ensure proper electrical connections. The temperatures maintained in these boats are 1500-1600C. The configuration of the boats is very crucial to ensure uniform of deposition of the aluminum on the film

The boats are placed on an extractable carriage so that cleaning of the boats and the vacuum vessel can be carried out easily.

Al wire spools:
These are rolls of aluminum wire which are supplied through a guide tube with a desired profile so that there is constant and smooth supply of aluminum to be melted onto the boats. The supply of aluminum wire is regulated through stepper motor and gear feed. The Al of the wires is 99.9% pure.

Unwinder, rewinder & web handling:

The web path has a vertical configuration as Unwinder and rewinder are placed one over the other.

The Unwinder consist of pneumatically expanding shaft over which the roll is mounted.
The film is the made to go through the desired rollers using threading chain.Hereafter the vacuum chamber is shut and the pumps start working in sequence. It takes nearly 15 mins to achieve the desired vacuum levels so as to start the movement of the film and the evaporation of aluminum. Before starting the coating the web is made to pass througha plasma pre treater station wherein the surface energy of the film is increased by charging the argon gas whose ions then bombard the film surface. This ensures proper coating of aluminum while metallization.

Increase of metal adhesion Improvement of barrier properties Upgrading of low quality materials

There are 2 banana rollers provided, one before and one after the coating drum to remove wrinkles in the film web. Tension measuring rollers with load cells are provided to measure the tension values of the film. A dancer roller is provided before the rewinder to ensure proper tension values while rewinding. The feedback from this roller determines any change in web speed.