TiO2 - based decorative interference coatings produced at industrial conditions

Abstract

The color of material is one of its important feature and can be produced using optical interference coatings consisting of dielectric film (upper layer) and substrate (mostly bulk metal plate or metallic layer). These coatings are alternative to layers prepared based on paints or lacquers. In the contrast to the lacquer, the interference coatings are significantly thinner and, apart from the color effect, they can fulfill the other functions (e.g. protective, anti-corrosion, self-cleaning). The colors of interference coatings are significantly sensitive to variations in the thickness of their individual components. Optical constants of the dielectric film and metallic substrate are also essential. Because of desirable properties of particular films, to effective production of the decorative interference systems the suitable technology (providing high quality of layers and uniformity of their properties) is required. Currently, magnetron sputtering is an environmentally friendly technology used in the industrial scale, allowing the production of coatings either on a large number of details or on large surfaces with maintaining of their repeatability. In addition to the concept of interference coatings and materials used, we would like to present the results obtained for layers deposited at industrial conditions on a large-scale glass with a fascinating narrow thickness tolerance.