초록 ▼

Improved razors and razor blades and processes for producing razor blades or similar cutting tools with sharp and durable cutting edges, by hard-carbon coating of blades with amorphous diamond, preferably using a filtered cathodic arc plasma source. A coating of amorphous diamond having at least 40

Improved razors and razor blades and processes for producing razor blades or similar cutting tools with sharp and durable cutting edges, by hard-carbon coating of blades with amorphous diamond, preferably using a filtered cathodic arc plasma source. A coating of amorphous diamond having at least 40 percent sp3 carbon bonding, a hardness of at least 45 gigapascals and a modulus of at least 400 gigapascals is applied to the sharpened edge of a substrate. The substrate may be mechanically honed, and there is no interlayer between the substrate and the amorphous diamond coating. The coating imparts stiffness and rigidity to a thin blade while maintaining a high aspect ratio.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for applying a hard carbon coating to a blade having a cutting edge bounded by a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface and an included blade angle enclosed by said first and second inclined surfaces, said method comprising the steps of:(a) applying

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for applying a hard carbon coating to a blade having a cutting edge bounded by a first inclined surface and a second inclined surface and an included blade angle enclosed by said first and second inclined surfaces, said method comprising the steps of:(a) applying an arc discharge to an evaporable carbon surface of a cathode, thereby generating a plasma stream of vaporized carbon in a generally directional stream resolvable into a set of roughly parallel lines,(b) orienting a blade to be coated within said plasma stream so that an angle measured from a line bisecting said included blade angle and one of said set of roughly parallel lines is within the range of 20.degree. to 90.degree., thereby exposing one of said first and second inclined surfaces of the cutting edge of the blade to the plasma stream at said angle, and(c) presenting said blade in relation to the plasma stream so that said deposition of vaporized carbon occurs on said first inclined surface of the cutting edge of the blade and on the second inclined surface of the cutting edge of the blade,wherein said deposition of vaporized carbon on said first and second inclined surfaces of the cutting edge occurs at an approximately equal average rate of deposition.