The present invention refers to a process for depositing a noble metal on zirconia ceramics, and to a jewellery product made through such process.

Processes of the above mentioned type, used in the field of jewellery, for producing various types of jewels, are not known to the Applicant of the present invention. The mina reason for he absence of these processes has been the difficulty of coupling these two materials, producing manufactured products which are subjected to impacts and stresses during their use, with the risk of detaching the above noble metal, with obvious problems of costs and of depreciation of the jewellery products.

Object of the present invention is solving the above prior art problems, by providing a process which allows, simply, quickly and efficiently depositing noble metals on substrates made of zirconia ceramics, making final jewellery products which are very resistant and hard, and which therefore are not subjected to detachments of the noble metal above, keeping the intrinsic solidity of the ceramic sub-layer.

A further object is providing a jewellery product made through the inventive process, which is solid, resistant and of a pleasant and beautiful appearance .

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention, as will result from the following description, are obtained with a process as claimed in claim 1. Preferred embodiments and non-trivial variations of the present invention are the subject matter of the dependent claims.

It is intended that all enclosed claims are an integral part of the present description.

It will be immediately obvious that numerous variations and modifications (for example related to shape, sizes, arrangements and parts with equivalent functionality) can be made with what is described, without departing from the scope of the invention as appears from the enclosed claims.

The present invention will be better described by some preferred embodiments thereof, provided as a non-limiting example herein below.

According to the present invention, the process for depositing a noble metal on zirconia ceramics according to the present invention, comprises the steps of:

spray painting at least one element made of zirconia ceramics, by using copper powder solvents ;

depositing on the element made of zirconia ceramics a layer of acid copper, by using a galvanic treatment;

mirror polishing the element made of zirconia ceramics ;

hardening for a first time in an oven the element made of zirconia ceramics;

depositing on the element made of zirconia ceramics a layer of white bronze through a galvanic treatment;

depositing on the element made of zirconia ceramics, through a galvanic treatment, a layer of palladium, which blocks an oxidation of the metal being present;

depositing on the element made of zirconia ceramics, through a galvanic treatment, at least one noble metal; and hardening for a second time, through a heat treatment, the noble metals deposited on the element made of zirconia ceramics.

In particular, the noble metal can be chosen in the group comprising gold, silver or platinum.

Always in particular, the step of mirror cleaning can occur through manual brushing, or with automatic tumbling.

Optimally, the step of first hardening in an oven preferably occurs at a temperature between 300 °C and 400 °C for a period ranging between 3 and 3.5 hours, while the step of second hardening through heat treatment can occur at a temperature of about 200 °C for a period ranging between 3 and 4 hours.

The present invention also deals with a jewellery product composed of at least one sublayer of zirconia ceramics and at least one layer of a noble metal, made through the above described process.