The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 11, 2000
Filed:
Jan. 09, 1998
Kent Coulter, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Thomas Mayer, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Roger W Phillips, Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Flex Products, Inc., Santa Rosa, CA (US);
Abstract
A rigid and brittle bright metal flake is formed of a central layer of a reflective material supported on both sides by dielectric layers. In a preferred embodiment, the metal layer is aluminum having a thickness of about 100 nm and the dielectrics are either silicon dioxide or magnesium fluoride, each having a thickness of about 100 nm. The result is a very thin three-layered metal flake about 300 nm thick that exhibits a uniaxial compressive strength of about 8 times a corresponding uniaxial tensile strength. As a result, the metal flake is then afforded the benefits of rigidity and brittle fracture during the manufacturing and applicational processes which ultimately provides favorable planar and specular reflectance characteristics in the visible wavelength range.