Study of ceramic coatings as a novel optical imaging tracking material using plasma spray method

In this work, plasma-spray processes are used to prepare functional coatings on a glass substrate as the optical reflective layer in auxiliary devices for image tracking, such as computer mouse pads. This is the first time for the report of the Al₂O₃-40wt.% TiO₂ ceramic coating on a mouse pad using plasma spraying. The tempered glass substrate was blasted first. Ceramic coating was then applied to the glass substrate by air plasma spraying. With this coating, the movement of the mouse on the pad becomes much more stable and smooth. A4 size paper (21×29.7 cm²) is commonly used as the standard testing pad for a computer mouse. In order to compare the ceramic coating with the performance of A4 size paper, a tracking performance test was conducted on the Al₂O₃-40wt.% TiO₂ coating pad and A4 size paper at an acceleration of 0.5 G (G = 9.8 m/sec²) and a velocity ranging from 12.7 mm/sec (0.5 ips, and the ips means inch per second) up to 508 mm/sec (20 ips), in increments of 25.4 mm/sec (1 ips). It was observed that the performance of the Al₂O ₃-40wt.% TiO₂ coating on the glass substrate pad is much better than that of A4 size paper. This indicates that good tracking performance can be achieved with Al₂O₃-40wt.% TiO₂ coating on the mouse pad. Furthermore, this ceramic coating has great potential in applications for image recording devices to enhance resolution. It thus merits further intense study.