Unwrapping CMF Design on Metal-Wannabe PVD and NCVM 拆招CMF設計談金屬電電電電電電電電電鍍🎵🤘🏻

[ 彩材拆拆 x 𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣 𝗖𝗠𝗙 ]
𝙲𝚑𝟹𝟺. 𝚄𝚗𝚠𝚛𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙲𝙼𝙵 𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕-𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚋𝚎 𝙿𝚅𝙳 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙽𝙲𝚅𝙼
Ch.34 拆招CMF設計談金屬電電電電電電電電電鍍🎵🤘🏻

^{CMF is a specific discipline within industrial design that focuses on the development of a product’s color, material, and finish. Unwrap CMF writes about little stories of CMF Design for those who are interested in learning more about this niche field. Comments and inspirations are welcome!}

Other than painting, PVD and NCVM perhaps is one of the most essential CMF process. Kitchen and bathroom accessories, cosmetic bottles, car decor, mobile phone gadgets – PVD/NCVM is widely used on daily products, especially for plastic pieces that want to achieve a metal-like look and feel.

PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) and NCVM (Non-Conductive Vacuum Metallization) are two similar processes that designers often work with. Between the two, I use PVD to refer to the coloring process for metal parts, and NCVM for metallization on plastic. That is not 100% accurate but is enough for communication at CMF workplace.

To learn more, use the terms PVD and NCVM for further technical research. For 𝗨𝗡𝗪𝗥𝗔𝗣 𝗖𝗠𝗙, let’s stay with the basics and be easy-to-understand as usual 🙈

The most outstanding feature of PVD/NCVM is the chrome-metallic look, which can confuse people to mistake plastic as metal. Indeed it can raise the perceived value easily, however, the shortcoming of PVD/NCVM usually surface during production, and it will be too late to make changes once the tooling has been started 😱

⚠️ PVD/NCVM can be unstable for some colors, meaning it cannot achieve the ideal yield rate without expanding the approved limit range. Start early in concepting to learn about the pros and cons of each coloring technique and choose your color wisely.

⚠️ The flow of PVD/NCVM coating can easily accumulate on edges, also known as edge-pooling or fat-edge. This will make sharp corners appear blunt, or make details less refined. Therefore, plan early during concepting, such as making the edge curvature as part of the design, to avoid edge-pooling being an issue.

⚠️ NCVM layers can peel-off easily in high-humidity and high-temperature environments. Make sure to run related tests properly during trial production, and avoid using NCVM on kitchen or bathroom products that are often exposed to water.

That’s not all! Size limitation of the vessel, color gap between top and bottom racks, dust, and more! PVD/NCVM comes with a trivial of tiny little issues, so…𝙋𝙇𝘼𝙉 𝙀𝘼𝙍𝙇𝙔! Call out to Industrial Designers, CMF Designers, and Engineers, let’s collab from the beginning!

^{CMF為Color Material and Finishing，譯為色彩、材質、及表面處理工藝，屬於工業設計旗下重要的一環。Unwrap CMF（彩材拆拆）將圍繞著這個主題，以淺而易懂的小故事拆解 CMF設計師的日常。}

除了噴塗等基礎製程，電鍍應該是最日常的CMF工藝了。廚衛五金、化妝品瓶罐、汽車裝飾、手機配件等，電鍍被廣泛運用在生活週遭。若是想利用低成本塑膠做出金屬質感，電鍍更是不二之選。

設計師常接觸的電鍍有PVD和NCVM，前者英文全稱Physical Vapor Deposition（物理氣相沈積），後者全稱Non-Conductive Vacuum Metallization（不導電真空金屬化）。不專業的我稱金屬底材的著色電鍍為PVD、塑膠底材為NCVM。這不是完全正確的區分方式，但足以作為CMF工作中溝通使用。

如果想進一步鑽研，可以利用PVD和NCVM兩個術語查詢兩者的技術性差異。本篇會以電鍍統稱，延續彩材拆拆淺而易懂的傳統🙈

電鍍最明顯的特徵在於鏡面般的金屬光澤，經常能使人將塑膠誤判為金屬製品。雖然能快速提升外觀的高級感，但電鍍的缺點很難後期補救，如果開模後才改善就來不及啦😱

⚠️ 對有些色系來說，電鍍的著色並不穩定，如果不擴大簽樣範圍就很難達到理想的良率。在設計初期應提前瞭解各種著色工藝的特性（比如靶材、半透色漆等）以及相對穩定的色系。

⚠️ 電鍍塗層的流動性容易在邊緣積漆（又稱肥邊），會使原本鋒利的銳角顯鈍、使細節顯得不精緻，因此在設計初期應儘早綢繆，比如潤化轉角。

⚠️ NCVM的金屬膜層在高溫潮濕的環境容易脫落，所以試產階段應做足附著力測試，並避免用於在衛浴、廚房會經常碰水的產品上。

另外還因鍍爐大小、上下層的色差、粉塵等，電鍍工藝充滿各種瑣碎的🛵小難題，所以工業設計師、CMF設計師、工程師更需要從一開始就要好好溝通和規劃喔！