Patent ID: 6287642
Filing Date: 2001-09-11
Classification: B60S,C23C

Abstract:
A process for coating a rubber wiper made of an elastomer material with a protective coating, said process comprising the steps of:a) generating and activating a vaporous coating material (90) by means of at least one of a plasma and a laser;b) forming the protective coating (50,62) on a surface (48) of the rubber wiper (10) by exposing said surface (48) to the vaporous coating material (90) by at least one of a chemical vapor deposition method and a physical vapor deposition method; andc) controlling process parameters for the generating and activating of the vaporous coating material and for the forming of the protective coating on the surface of the rubber wiper (10) so that said protective coating (50,62) includes at least three coating layers, said protective coating has a total thickness of from 200 nm to 2 .mu.m, said at least three coating layers include at least one thicker softer one of said coating layers having elastomeric properties corresponding to those of said elastomer material and other thinner harder ones of said coating layers, and the other thinner harder coating layers have respective hardness increasing from an inner most one to an outermost one of said other thinner harder coating layers.