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US 9,996,053 B2Granted
Nano- and micro-replication for authentication and texturization
AssigneeCrucible Intellectual Property, LLC
InventorsSean Timothy O'Keeffe, Tran Quoc Pham, Theodore Andrew Waniuk
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Abstract
Embodiments herein relate to forming nano- and/or micro-replication directly embossed in a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy comprising a metal alloy by superplastic forming of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy at a temperature greater than a glass transition temperature (Tg) of the metal alloy.
Claims25
A method comprising:
- heating a mold defining a pattern of micro-scale or smaller features to a temperature at or above a glass transition temperature (Tg) and below a melting temperature (Tm) of a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy;
- placing the heated mold and an article comprising the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy at a temperature below Tg in contact with each other to locally heat the article so that a depth less than a complete thickness of the article is heated to at least Tg and a remainder of the article remains below Tg;
- and
- imprinting the pattern on the article.
1 more element
An apparatus comprising:
- a mold defining a pattern of micro-scale or smaller features;
- and
- a heating system configured to heat the mold to a temperature at or above a glass transition temperature (Tg) and below a melting temperature (Tm) of a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy;
- wherein
- the apparatus is configured to:
- place the heated mold in contact with an article comprising the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy at a temperature below Tg to locally heat the article so that a depth less than a complete thickness of the article is heated to at least Tg and a remainder of the article remains below Tg;
- and
- imprint the pattern on the article.
5 more elements
A method comprising:
- heating a mold defining a negative image of a pattern to a temperature at or above a glass transition temperature (Tg) and below a melting temperature (Tm) of a bulk solidifying amorphous alloy;
- placing the heated mold and an article at temperature below Tg and comprising the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy in contact with each other, thereby locally heating a surface portion of the article to at least a temperature above Tg and below a crystallization temperature (Tx) of the bulk solidifying amorphous alloy through transfer of thermal energy from the mold;
- and
- embossing the pattern on the surface portion of the article while maintaining a temperature of another portion of the article below Tg, the pattern including microsized features, nanosized features, or a combination thereof.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.