Method of manufacturing abrasive articles

Abstract

Abrasive articles, such as finger nail files, are made by stamping a metal sheet to form a blank with a header strip having a plurality of spaced fingers depending therefrom, coating the fingers with a slurry of abrasive granules and flowable plastics material adhesive, curing the coating to anchor the abrasive particles to the fingers, vacuum depositing a thin strike coating of copper or copper alloy over the cured resin coating and then electro depositing a coating of nickel over the vacuum deposited copper. The abrasive granules are preferably aluminum oxide, the resin carrier for the granules is preferably an epoxide thermosetting resin, and the metal coatings are controlled to form thin sheaths around the resin coating leaving the peaks of the abrasive granules exposed or only covered with very thin coatings which break off or wear away when subjected to friction. The cured, abrasive particle containing resin coating is sufficiently stable to resist deterioration during the vacuum coating operation which is carried out in several sequential stages initially releasing gases in the resin coating, then melting the copper, increasing the vacuum and temperature to vaporize the copper and then depositing the vapor on the fingers forming a sheath around the resin coating.