Container with a coating of barrier effect material, and method and apparatus for manufacturing the same

A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the coating of material with the barrier effect is less than about 3000 Å thick.

A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the polymer material is a polyolefin or a polyester, in particular PET or PEN.

A container as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, characterised in that the coating of material with a barrier effect is applied to the substrate inside the container.

A method using a plasma excited by an electromagnetic wave to form a container, such as a bottle or flask, made heterogeneously from a material with a barrier effect and a polymer material forming a substrate conforming to the shape of said container to be produced, characterised in that said polymer material forming the substrate is coated with a material with a barrier effect comprising an amorphous carbon material with a polymer tendency, consisting of the following steps:

• a blank of the container (18) made from a polymer material forming the above-mentioned substrate is placed in an enclosure (2), in which a high vacuum is created,
• at least one carbon precursor is injected into the reaction chamber (2, 18) in the gaseous state at a very low pressure, the precursor being selected from the alkane, alkene, alkyne and aromatic compounds or a combination of some of them,
• a microwave in the UHF range is simultaneously electromagnetically excited in the reaction chamber, at a relatively low power sufficient to generate a plasma under temperature conditions which will maintain the polymer at a temperature below the glass transition temperature on the one hand and which will cause an amorphous carbon material with a polymer tendency to be deposited on the other.

An apparatus which uses a plasma excited by electromagnetic wave to form a container, such as a bottle or flask, made heterogeneously from a material with a barrier effect and a polymer material forming a substrate (container blank (18)) having the shape of said container to be produced, this apparatus comprising a plasma-generating device with an enclosure (2) fitted with means (7) for injecting a gaseous precursor and electromagnetic excitation means (8-12),

• characterised in that in order to coat said polymer material forming the substrate with a material having a barrier effect comprising an amorphous carbon material with a polymer tendency, the means (7) for injecting the precursor are connected to a means for generating a precursor in the gaseous state, selected from the alkane, alkene, alkyne and aromatic compounds or a combination of some of them, and injection means are designed to deliver the gaseous precursor at a very low pressure, and the electromagnetic excitation means (8-12) are of a sufficient rating to generate microwaves in the UHF range.