JP6985033B2 - Electro-optic panel - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an electro-optic panel including a display panel and a lighting panel.

Electro-optical panels such as OLED (organic light-emitting diode) image display panels, OLED lighting panels, cholesteric liquid crystal image display panels, PDLC (polymer dispersed liquid crystal) image display panels, and electrophoretic image display panels are electro-optical elements (for example). , Light emitting element and liquid crystal element), and has a plurality of layers (for example, Patent Document 1). In the present specification, the "electro-optical element" includes a light emitting element (for example, an OLED element) that emits light by the action of electricity and an optical control element (for example, a liquid crystal element) that controls the transmission of light by the action of electricity. The "electro-optical panel" refers to a panel having such an electro-optical element.

A polymer film such as transparent polyimide is generally used as the front film of the flexible electro-optical panel. Further, a hard coat formed of an acrylate compound or a methacrylate compound may be laminated on the surface of the front film (for example, Patent Document 1). The role of the hard coat is to prevent damage to the surface of the electro-optic panel.

Special Table 2016-504223 Gazette

However, an electro-optic panel that satisfies all of the following conditions has not been realized.
・ After being deformed, it is easy to restore to the original flat state,
・ It is difficult for scratches to remain on the surface.
-Prevents display defects of electro-optic elements due to impact.

For example, if a hard coat is provided, the surface is less likely to be scratched, but it takes time for the electro-optic panel to return to the original flat state, and the impact resistance may be poor. Further, even if the hard coat is laminated on the flexible layer, the hardness may not be sufficient. Further, the hard coat may be cracked.

Therefore, the present invention provides a flexible electro-optical panel that can be easily restored to the original flat state even when deformed, is less likely to have scratches on the surface, and can reduce display defects of the electro-optical element due to impact.

The electro-optical panel according to the present invention is a flexible electro-optical panel, and is arranged in parallel with a flexible electro-optical element that presents an image by emitting light or controlling the transmission of light, and the electro-optic element. It is provided with an elastomer layer and a gel-like layer arranged between the elastomer layer and the electro-optical element.

According to this configuration, due to the elastomer layer and the gel-like layer, it is easy to restore the original flat state even if the flexible electro-optic panel is deformed. Further, due to the elastomer layer and the gel-like layer, even if the surface is scratched, the scratches are not easily restored and remain. Further, the shock absorbing capacity is improved, and it is possible to reduce display defects of the electro-optical element due to the shock.

Preferably, the film thickness of the elastomer layer is 100 μm or more, and the film thickness of the elastomer layer is not more than the film thickness of the gel-like layer.

Preferably, the gel-like layer has a film thickness of 100 μm or more and 800 μm or less.

Preferably, the elastomer layer is formed of urethane rubber and the gel-like layer is formed of urethane gel.

Preferably, the elastomer layer is arranged on the light emitting side of the electro-optical element. In this case, even if the surface on the light emitting side is scratched, the scratches are unlikely to remain, so that deterioration of the visibility of the image can be prevented.

Preferably, the elastomer layer is arranged on the side opposite to the light emitting side of the electro-optical element.

Preferably, the gel is arranged on the side opposite to the light emitting side of the electro-optic element, further, an elastomer layer arranged in parallel with the electro-optical element, and between the elastomer layer and the electro-optic element. It is provided with an optical layer.

Preferably, the elastomer layer is arranged on the side opposite to the light emitting side of the electro-optical element.

Preferably, an elastomer layer arranged in parallel with the electro-optic element and a gel-like layer arranged between the elastomer layer and the electro-optic element are further provided on the light emitting side of the electro-optic element. Be prepared.

Preferably, the elastomeric layer is arranged and exposed on the outermost side. That is, it is preferable that the substance that easily leaves scratches does not exist on the outermost side.

Preferably, the total content of the acrylate compound and the methacrylate compound in the elastomer layer is 0.1 part by mass or less.

It is sectional drawing which shows schematically the flexible OLED electro-optics panel which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a table which shows the result of the pencil hardness test performed while changing the thickness of a gel-like layer and an elastomer layer of an OLED electro-optics panel. It is a graph which shows the result of the said test. It is sectional drawing which shows schematically the flexible OLED electro-optics panel which concerns on the modification.

Hereinafter, various embodiments according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description associated with the accompanying drawings. In different drawings, the same reference numerals are used to indicate the same or functionally similar elements. Please understand that the drawings are schematic and the scale of the drawings is not accurate.

As shown in FIG. 1, the flexible OLED electro-optic panel 1 according to the first embodiment of the present invention has a flexible substrate (flexible film) 10 and a barrier layer 12 formed on the flexible substrate (flexible film) 10. The flexible substrate 10 is made of a polymer material, for example, polyimide. The barrier layer 12 is made of a polymer material or an inorganic material.

A TFT (thin film transistor) layer 14 and an OLED layer 16 are formed on the barrier layer 12. Although not shown in detail, the TFT layer 14 has a large number of TFTs, an interlayer insulating film covering the TFTs, and a plurality of anodes for a plurality of OLED elements.

In this embodiment, the OLED layer 16 has a large number of OLED elements 16R, 16G, 16B. The OLED element 16R emits red light, the OLED element 16G emits green light, and the OLED element 16B emits blue light. Although not shown in detail, each of the OLED elements 16R, 16G, and 16B has a layer such as an organic light emitting layer, a hole injection layer, and an electron transport layer. A common cathode layer 18 for a large number of OLED elements 16R, 16G, 16B is formed on the OLED layer 16. One OLED element corresponds to one subpixel, and one set of OLED elements 16R, 16G, 16B corresponds to one pixel.

A capsule encapsulant 20 formed of, for example, an inorganic substance or a polymer material is bonded to the barrier layer 12, and the capsule encapsulant 20 covers the TFT layer 14, the OLED layer 16, and the common cathode layer 18. Protect. Further, a back film 24 is bonded on the capsule encapsulant 20. The back film 24 is made of, for example, a polymer material. Although not essential, the encapsulant 26 may be provided around the side surface of the capsule encapsulant 20.

The OLED electro-optical panel 1 is a bottom emission type that emits light generated in the OLED layer 16 toward the flexible substrate 10 side (that is, the lower part of the figure). The arrows in the figure indicate the light emission direction. In this embodiment, the flexible substrate 10, the barrier layer 12, the TFT layer 14, the OLED layer 16, the common cathode layer 18, and the capsule encapsulant 20 constitute an electro-optical element.

A front film 28 is bonded to the flexible substrate 10. The front film 28 includes an elastomer layer 32 arranged and exposed on the outermost side of the light emitting side of the electro-optical element, and a gel-like layer 30 arranged between the elastomer layer 32 and the electro-optic element. ..

The material of the elastomer layer 32 is not limited to any polymer material having remarkable elasticity, but is preferably a thermosetting elastomer, more preferably a thermosetting resin-based elastomer, and is a three-dimensional chemistry. It is a crosslinked polymer. In this embodiment, since the elastomer layer 32 is arranged on the light emitting side of the electro-optical element, it is preferable to form the elastomer layer 32 with urethane rubber or silicone rubber having high transparency. Urethane rubber or silicone rubber is also preferable in that it has high strength.

The material of the elastomer layer 32 may contain a substance other than the elastomer, and may contain additives such as wax particles and silica particles. For example, at least one of the acrylate compound and the methacrylate compound may be contained in the elastomer layer 32. In this case, the total content of the acrylate compound and the methacrylate compound in the elastomer layer 32 is preferably 0.1 part by mass or less.

The material of the gel-like layer 30 is generally a substance having gel-like physical properties and is not limited. That is, a gel containing particles such as various polymer gels and colloidal gels may be used. Urethane gel and silicone gel with high transparency are preferable. The material of the gel-like layer 30 may contain a substance other than the gel-like substance, and may contain additives such as wax particles and silica particles, for example.

After the elastomer layer 32 and the gel-like layer 30 are separately molded, the front film 28 may be manufactured by laminating. However, the elastomer layer 32 and the gel-like layer 30 may be simultaneously molded using various multi-layer coating devices. The gel-like layer 30 and the elastomer layer 32 may be sequentially coated on the flexible substrate 10 by using various coating devices.

According to this configuration, due to the elastomer layer 32 and the gel-like layer 30, even if the flexible OLED electro-optical panel 1 is deformed, it can be easily restored to the original flat state. Further, due to the elastomer layer 32 and the gel-like layer 30, even if the surface is scratched, the scratches are not easily restored and remain. Further, the shock absorbing capacity is improved, and it is possible to reduce display defects of the electro-optical element due to the shock.

In this embodiment, since the gel-like layer 30 is arranged on the light emitting side of the electro-optical element, even if the surface on the light emitting side is scratched, the scratches are unlikely to remain, so that the visibility of the image is improved. It can prevent deterioration. Further, in this embodiment, the elastomer layer 32 is arranged and exposed on the outermost side. This is because it is preferable that the substance that easily leaves scratches is not present on the outermost side.

For this embodiment, experiments were conducted to confirm the scratch restoration performance and to investigate the range of suitable parameters. For this experiment, urethane rubber as the elastomer layer 32 and urethane gel as the gel-like layer 30 were attached to a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) film to prepare a plurality of samples. The thickness of the urethane rubber and the thickness of the urethane gel were changed, and the suitable thickness was investigated. The film thickness of the urethane gel was 100 μm or more and 800 μm or less. The hardness of the urethane rubber was A hardness specified in JIS K 6253 and ISO 7619, and was A95. The hardness of the urethane gel was C5, which was the ASKER C hardness specified in SRIS (Japan Rubber Association standard) 0101.

Then, the pencil hardness test specified in JIS-K5600-5-4 and ISO15184 was carried out. The pencil used in the experiment was HB, and the pencil was manually guided to the elastomer layer 32, and after 60 seconds, visual observation was performed. It was judged as "bad". 2 and 3 show the experimental results.

According to the experimental results, scratches remained when the elastomer layer 32 was 50 μm (see Comparative Examples 1, 3 and 5 in FIG. 2). It is considered that this is because the elastomer layer 32 is too thin and the rigidity of the entire front film 28 is insufficient. The film thickness of the elastomer layer 32 is preferably 100 μm or more.

Even when the film thickness of the elastomer layer 32 was too large, scratches remained. This means that if the rigidity of the elastomer layer 32, that is, the strength is too high, the self-repairing ability is insufficient.

However, as is clear from the comparison between Example 2 and Comparative Example 2 in FIG. 2 and the comparison between Examples 4 and 6 and Comparative Example 4, even if the elastomer layer 32 has the same thickness, it depends on the thickness of the gel-like layer 30. , The quality of the result was different. Therefore, it has been found that the suitable thickness of the elastomer layer 32 cannot be simply defined by the thickness itself.

Therefore, referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the suitable thickness of the elastomer layer 32 is equal to or less than the thickness of the gel-like layer 30. Therefore, it is understood that the suitable thickness of the elastomer layer 32 is 100 μm or more, and is equal to or less than the thickness of the gel-like layer 30.

Deformation test and impact resistance test were performed using the same multiple samples. In the deformation test, the restoration performance to the original flat state after deformation was investigated. In the impact resistance test, it was examined whether or not the object was destroyed when the object was placed on the sample and the sample was impacted. Although these results are not shown, both the comparative example and the example were good in the deformation test and the impact resistance test.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a flexible OLED electro-optic panel 41 according to a modified example. The OLED electro-electro-optics panel 41 has an OLED layer 42 that emits white light instead of the OLED layer 16 that emits color. Further, the color filter layer 44 is interposed between the OLED layer 42 and the TFT layer 14. The color filter layer 44 has a large number of color filter elements 44R, 44G, 44B. The color filter element 44R transmits red light, the color filter element 44G transmits green light, and the color filter element 44B transmits blue light. One color filter element corresponds to one subpixel, and one set of color filter elements 44R, 44G, 44B corresponds to one pixel.

In the embodiment and the modification, the gel-like layer 30 and the elastomer layer 32 are provided on the front film 28 arranged on the light emitting side of the electro-optical element. Alternatively or in addition to this, the gel-like layer 30 and the elastomer layer 32 may be arranged on the side opposite to the light emitting side of the electro-optical element. Also in this case, it is preferable that the elastomer layer 32 is arranged on the outermost side and exposed.

As an embodiment, the OLED electro-optics panel has been described as an example, but a cholesteric liquid crystal electro-optics panel, a PDLC electro-optics panel, an electrophoretic electro-optics panel, or a transparent OLED electro-optics panel or other electro-optics such as an OLED illuminator. The present invention can also be applied to panels.

1,41 OLED electro-optical panel 10 Flexible substrate 12 Barrier layer 14 TFT layer 16 OLED layer 24 Back film 28 Front film 30 Gel-like layer 32 Elastomer layer 42 OLED layer 44 Color filter layer

Claims (5)

Flexible electro-optics that present images by emitting light or controlling the transmission of light,
An elastomer layer placed parallel to the electro-optic element, formed of urethane rubber, and placed on the outermost side and exposed.
A gel-like layer disposed between the elastomer layer and the electro-optic element and formed of urethane gel is provided.
The elastomer layer and the gel-like layer are in contact with each other and
The thickness of the elastomer layer is 100 μm or more, and the film thickness is 100 μm or more.
The film thickness of the elastomer layer is equal to or less than the film thickness of the gel-like layer.
The thickness of the gel layer is 100μm or more, Ru der below 800 [mu] m,
Flexible electro-optic panel. The electro-optical panel according to claim 1 , wherein the elastomer layer is arranged on the light emitting side of the electro-optic element. On the side opposite to the light emitting side of the electro-optical element, further
An elastomer layer arranged in parallel with the electro-optic element,
The electro-optical panel according to claim 2 , further comprising a gel-like layer arranged between the elastomer layer and the electro-optic element. The electro-optical panel according to claim 1 , wherein the elastomer layer is arranged on a side opposite to the light emitting side of the electro-optic element. The electro-optical panel according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the total content of the acrylate compound and the methacrylate compound in the elastomer layer is 0.1 part by mass or less.

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