New laser technique for eyewear decorations
Currently, lasers are used for marking and engraving by removing material. With the new Laser Enhanced Plating (LEP) technique, top-quality decorations can be achieved by adding material, precious metals in particular. Precious metal decorations are generally carried out by traditional galvanizing techniques after masking the parts that are not to be plated with the precious metal. With the LEP technique, the masking operation is eliminated and this considerably reduces process times.
The research project on the subject, 'The study of new applications and innovative developments in the laser enhanced plating technique', was carried out by Certottica, with co-financing by the Veneto Region, as part of the Interreg IIIA Italy-Austria 2000-2006 Community initiative in partnership with the Tech Tirol Technological Center in Innsbruck and with the collaboration of professor Cavallotti of the Milan Polytechnic.
Basically, the new technique consists in using laser beams to chemically or electrochemically deposit a metal on a surface (usually metal). The precursor of the metal to be deposited is in a solution (such as an ion or ion complex solution) in which the sample to be plated must be immersed. The laser beam crosses the solution and focuses on the surface; it then moves across the surface so that only the areas it has traced are plated.
The effect of the laser on the plating process is merely thermal because the substrate absorbs the laser. Especially important for the success of these processes is the absence of solutions that will absorb the laser and this greatly restricts the choice of solutions which contain the precursors of the metal to be deposited.
By using this technique in the eyewear sector, decorations can be made with noble and non-noble metals: basically, the filling point is the metal part of the frame on which it is possible to create interesting decorative effects or descriptive elements as well as logos, names and anything else that will enhance a frame. At the same time, the technique can be used as a brand anti-counterfeiting method.
