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I looking for ways to coat the lenses of my glasses with a thin layer of gold, the same way tht NASA used to do with the astronaut's visors. I found this post by Carlos: Why does NASA use gold foil on equipment and gold-coated visors?

In which he talks about gold being layered onto the polycarbonate visor. My question is what process can do that and is it possible for me to do on my own?

gowekj sergfg
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typically, metals like gold are applied by a process called sputtering, this takes place in a vacuum chamber and is used to apply thin layers of different metals to silicon wafers from which chips are made. sputtering processes have been developed in which the workpiece can be plastic instead of silicon. eyeglass manufacturers offer sputter-metallized plastic lenses but when last I looked into this, their processes were carefully-guarded trade secrets. a sputtering machine (also called a metal dep machine) costs hundreds of thousands of dollars; the sputtering target (the gold slab from which atoms are knocked loose) alone costs tens of thousands of dollars- so no, this is not something you could do in your garage shop unless it is a lot better equipped than mine is.

niels nielsen
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    Could a thin layer of graphene be electroplated with gold and still be transparent?. Also why does it have to be a gold slab? – gowekj sergfg Jan 04 '18 at 05:26
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    in a sputtering machine, a tiny amount of argon is bled into the chamber and excited into a plasma with a powerful RF transmitter. magnets positioned behind the target slab urge the argon atoms to follow trajectories which cause them to hammer away at the target surface, knocking atoms free from its surface, those atoms then fly off and strike the workpiece, coating it with whatever metal the target was made of. a target is about 5 inches by 7 inches and roughly a half an inch thick. I do not know if gold can be plated onto graphene. – niels nielsen Jan 04 '18 at 05:32
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    It seems unlikely that a sputtering machine is the only way to do this. I'm not looking for NASA quality levels, I just want transparent gold that won't flake off. Have you heard of anything else? – gowekj sergfg Jan 04 '18 at 05:35
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    there is another process called physical vapor deposition, in which a very thin wire of metal is vaporized by an electric current in a vacuum chamber. the metal vapor then lands on the workpiece, coating it. Aluminum is applied to the plastic parts of toy car models to make them look "chromed" in this way. cheaper than sputtering but limited to aluminum- I have never heard of applying gold in this manner but it might be possible. – niels nielsen Jan 04 '18 at 05:52
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    I might be able to make that work. Either way thanks for your help. I'll post back here if I accomplish anything. I'm still confident this is possible. – gowekj sergfg Jan 04 '18 at 06:19
  • Or what about if the entire lens was gold, without any glass or plastic. The gold would be expensive but maybe it could be bent into my prescription? – gowekj sergfg Jan 04 '18 at 06:21
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    then you couldn't see through it... – niels nielsen Jan 04 '18 at 06:39
  • Ugh, you're right. Is there anything I could spray on to the lens to make it conductive yet still transparent? O hate to admit it but graphene might be my only option. I heard there is a YouTube tutorial about cheap ways to make it workable – gowekj sergfg Jan 04 '18 at 06:44
  • I don't know- but here's something to try: go out to the engineering stack exchange and ask how they put gold on sunglass lenses. you might hook up with a metal dep guy who knows how it is done! best regards, niels – niels nielsen Jan 04 '18 at 06:52
  • The method mentioned by Niels Nielsen , PVD or evaporation at reduced pressure works well for gold too. Still you need an evaporator. Basically a vacuum chamber with Ampere robust circuit, controllers, boats .Not a common equipment in every day life. – Alchimista Jan 04 '18 at 09:32
  • Ugh, I see. Not for me apparently – gowekj sergfg Jan 04 '18 at 16:34
  • could you potentially sputter graphite? – DeerSpotter Feb 22 '19 at 21:52
  • Sure. People have been working for ages on depositing diamond coatings on things, under the rubric "diamond-like carbon". most of these attempts fail, with the result being what is called "carbon-like carbon, i.e. graphite. – niels nielsen Feb 22 '19 at 22:18