1. Core Definition and Function

• Functional aspect: Enhances the light-shielding property, airtightness and electrical conductivity (in some scenarios) of plastics.
• Aesthetic aspect: Gives plastics a bright metallic luster, replacing traditional electroplating or metallic paint spraying.

2. Key Working Principle (4-Step Process)

1. Vacuum Environment Establishment: Place the plastic workpieces to be coated into a sealed chamber, and extract air to create a high-vacuum environment. This prevents aluminum vapor from reacting with air and affecting the film quality.
2. Aluminum Heating and Evaporation: Heat solid aluminum wires/blocks to a high temperature via methods such as resistance heating and electron beam, turning them into aluminum vapor (atomic-level particles).
3. Aluminum Vapor Deposition: In a vacuum state, aluminum vapor diffuses in all directions and adheres evenly to the surface of plastic workpieces.
4. Cooling and Film Formation: The aluminum atoms attached to the plastic surface gradually cool down and condense to form a dense, uniform metallic aluminum film, completing the coating process.

3. Applicable Industries and Substrates

(1) Main Application Industries

• Packaging industry: Light-shielding and decoration of plastic films (e.g., food packaging films, food packaging paper) and plastic containers (e.g., cosmetic bottles, beverage bottles).
• Electronics industry: Conductive coatings and electromagnetic shielding coatings for plastic casings (e.g., mobile phone middle frames, earphone casings).
• Decoration industry: Metallic surface treatment for plastic jewelry, toys and household items.

(2) Common Substrates for Treatment

• Film types: PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate), PP (Polypropylene), PE (Polyethylene) films.
• Product types: Injection-molded plastic parts such as ABS, PC (Polycarbonate) and PMMA (Acrylic).

4. Core Advantages

• High Film Quality: Coating in a vacuum environment ensures high uniformity and strong adhesion of the aluminum layer, which is not easy to peel off or oxidize.
• Good Environmental Performance: Compared with traditional chemical electroplating, it does not use harmful chemicals such as acids and alkalis, and has no wastewater or waste gas emissions, meeting environmental requirements.
• Controllable Cost: Aluminum material utilization rate is high, and the coating process can be carried out in batch and continuous production, suitable for large-scale industrial applications.
• Strong Flexibility: The thickness of the aluminum film (usually several nanometers to dozens of nanometers) can be controlled by adjusting parameters such as vacuum degree, evaporation temperature and coating time to meet different functional needs.