PVD coating with different alloys for production of different coloured reflector components in lighting units used in automotive industry and providing ECE regulation requirements

The sub-components that are used in automotive lighting products are coated with aluminum by PVD method due to their aesthetic appearance and reflectivity needs. The PVD coating process is the evaporation of atoms or molecules from the liquid or solid phase under low pressure and condensation of the steam on the substrate (Mattox, 1998). Maintaining the required optical needs, alloy coating is achieved on polymers with PVD coating in serial conditions. This is beyond the known application of PVD coating for lighting industry. Reflector based parts are alloy coated and with natural outer lens different coloured rear lamps are first time obtained. Homogeneous thin film layer is achieved with optimizing the evaporation tower position with the help of CFD analysis. In addition, geometry optimization of tungsten filament and alloy wire was carried out in order to make the most proper heat transfer between them. Different coloured rear lamps are applied to photometry measurements. The optical values and colour tone values were verified whether they fullfill the requirements of ECE regulation. The red colour for ECE regulation is obtained with modification of the LEDs.