# US 12,109,587 B2 · Polymer plastic front plate and method for manufacturing the same

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- Number: US 12,109,587 B2
- Document ID: US12109587B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/381,053
- Filed: 2023-10-17
- Published: 2024-02-15
- Granted: 2024-10-08
- Earliest claimed: 2020-01-04
- Assignees: Enflex, Inc.
- Applicants: Enflex Corporation
- Inventors: Hsin Yuan Chen; Chun Kai Wang; Yu Ling Chien
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12109587B2

## CPC

- B05D 7/04: to surfaces of films or sheets (producing layered products by applying coatings of pasty or pulverulent plastics B29C41/00)
- C08J 7/046: Forming abrasion-resistant coatings; Forming surface-hardening coatings
- C08J 5/18: Manufacture of films or sheets
- C08J 7/042: {with two or more layers, where at least one layer of a composition contains a polymer binder}
- C09D 7/61: inorganic
- C09D 7/70: {characterised by shape, e.g. fibres, flakes or microspheres}
- C09D 175/04: Polyurethanes
- C09D 175/16: having terminal carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
- H05K 1/0313: {Organic insulating material}
- H05K 3/28: Applying non-metallic protective coatings {(H05K3/0091 takes precedence; methods for intermediate insulating layers for build-up multilayer circuits H05K3/4673)}
- H05K 3/284: {for encapsulating mounted components (H05K1/185 takes precedence)}
- C08J 2333/12: Homopolymers or copolymers of methyl methacrylate
- C08J 2369/00: Characterised by the use of polycarbonates; Derivatives of polycarbonates
- C08J 2475/04: Polyurethanes
- C08J 2475/14: Polyurethanes having carbon-to-carbon unsaturated bonds
- C08K 3/28: Nitrogen-containing compounds
- C08K 3/36: Silica
- C08K 2003/2227: {of aluminium}
- G06F 2203/04103: Manufacturing, i.e. details related to manufacturing processes specially suited for touch sensitive devices
- B05D: PROCESSES FOR APPLYING FLUENT MATERIALS TO SURFACES, IN GENERAL (conveying articles or workpieces through baths of liquid B65G, e.g. B65G49/02)
- C08J: WORKING-UP; GENERAL PROCESSES OF COMPOUNDING; AFTER-TREATMENT NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C08B, C08C, C08F, C08G or C08H (working, e.g. shaping, of plastics B29)
- C09D: COATING COMPOSITIONS, e.g. PAINTS, VARNISHES OR LACQUERS; FILLING PASTES; CHEMICAL PAINT OR INK REMOVERS; INKS; CORRECTING FLUIDS; WOODSTAINS; PASTES OR SOLIDS FOR COLOURING OR PRINTING; USE OF MATERIALS THEREFOR (cosmetics A61K; processes for applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces, in general, B05D; staining wood B27K5/02; glazes or vitreous enamels C03C; natural resins, French polish, drying-oils, driers, turpentine, per se, C09F; polishing compositions other than French polish, ski waxes C09G; adhesives or use of materials as adhesives C09J; materials for sealing or packing joints or covers C09K3/10; materials for stopping leaks C09K3/12; processes for the electrolytic or electrophoretic production of coatings C25D)
- H05K: PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
- C08K: Use of inorganic or non-macromolecular organic substances as compounding ingredients (paints, inks, varnishes, dyes, polishes, adhesives C09)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A polymer plastic front plate comprises: a plastic substrate and a hard coating layer formed on an adhesion surface of the plastic substrate. The hard coating layer comprises: organic-inorganic hybrid UV oligomer, high Tg UV resin additive, a plurality of dispersed flaky nano inorganic material, and photo initiator, so as to form a gas barrier hard coating layer with high surface dyne value (>44 dyne) on the adhesion surface of the plastic substrate. It not only has good ink printability and OCA adhesiveness, but also inhibits the diffusion of fugitive gas from polymer plastic front plates during high-temperature, high-temperature and high-humidity, high-low temperature thermal shocks and other harsh automotive industry environmental tests. The gas can be avoided from entering the OCA layer, thereby solving the problems of bubbles and delamination after the environmental tests are performed.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate, comprising:
providing a plastic substrate and a coating material; the plastic substrate having a bonding surface and an operation surface opposite to the bonding surface; said coating material including: a first weight percentage of organic-inorganic hybrid UV-curable oligomer, a second weight percentage of UV-curable resin additives with high glass transition temperature (Tg) value, a plurality of dispersed nano-scale flaky inorganic substances, and a photo initiator;
wherein, the process for providing the coating material comprises the following steps:
forming an inorganic layer on a carrier plate; wherein, the carrier plate is a glass carrier plate, and a release film is provided on a surface of the glass carrier plate; an inorganic material is plated on the release film by a vacuum sputtering process in order to form a whole piece of the inorganic layer on the surface of the release film;
detaching and breaking the inorganic layer into a plurality of tiny inorganic fragments; wherein the detaching and breaking step consists of vibrating the carrier plate in such a manner that, by merely vibrating the carrier plate, the inorganic layer is broken into the plurality of tiny inorganic fragments and then detached from the release film of the carrier plate, while the release film is remained on the surface of the carrier plate without being broken during the detaching and breaking step; wherein, the plurality of tiny inorganic fragments are the only objects being detached from the carrier plate during the detaching and breaking step;
smoothing and dispersing the plurality of tiny inorganic fragments in order to transform the plurality of tiny inorganic fragments into the plurality of dispersed nano-scale flaky inorganic substances; wherein, the plurality of tiny inorganic fragments obtained directly by the detaching and breaking step are mixed and stirred by a nano dispersion equipment, so that the plurality of tiny inorganic fragments can collide with each other to gradually smooth their sharp edges and also disperse them evenly and individually, so as to form the plurality of dispersed nano-scale flaky inorganic substances; and
adding and mixing the plurality of dispersed nano-scale flaky inorganic substances into a solution of the organic-inorganic hybrid UV-curable oligomer, the UV-curable resin additive and the photo initiator to form the coating material;
applying the coating material onto the bonding surface of the plastic substrate; and
curing the coating material to form a hard coating layer on the bonding surface of the plastic substrate; wherein, during the curing process, the plurality of dispersed nano-scale flaky inorganic substances will be affected by the gravity and hydrodynamics, and randomly dispersed and arranged along a horizontal direction in a parallel manner within the hard coating layer, such that the plurality of dispersed nano-scale flaky inorganic substances can form a discontinuously layered dispersed gas barrier layer in the hard coating layer.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 1, further comprising:
providing a protective layer on the operation surface of the plastic substrate
printing an ink layer on the bonding surface of the plastic substrate;
applying an optical clear adhesive (OCA) on the bonding surface of the plastic substrate; and
bonding the bonding surface of the plastic substrate to a touch panel by means of the optical clear adhesive;
wherein the operation surface of the plastic substrate is for a user to touch and operate the touch panel.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 2, wherein the organic-inorganic hybrid UV-curable oligomer includes a polyurethane resin and a sol-gel silica hybrid mixture.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 3, wherein the glass transition temperature (Tg) value of the UV-curable resin additives is not less than 120° C.; in addition, the UV-curable resin additives contain at least one of the following: UV-curable oligomer with high glass transition temperature (high Tg UV oligomer) and UV-curable monomer with high glass transition temperature (high Tg UV monomer).

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 4, wherein the UV-curable oligomer with high glass transition temperature is polyurethane acrylate, which has a glass transition temperature (Tg) value not less than 120° C.; in addition, the UV-curable monomer with high glass transition temperature is Tris(2-hydroxy ethyl) isocyanuratetriacrylate (THEICTA), which has a glass transition temperature (Tg) value not less than 240° C.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 5, wherein the nano-scale flaky inorganic substances are composed of at least one of the following materials: SiO2, Al2O3, Si3N4, SiOxNy, and AlOxNy.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 6, wherein each of the nano-scale flaky inorganic substances has a thickness (t), a longitudinal width (w1) and a lateral width (w2); wherein, the measuring directions of the thickness (t), the longitudinal width (w1) and the lateral width (w2) are perpendicular to each other, and w1≥w2≥t; wherein, the thickness (t) is between 0.1 nm and 50 nm, the longitudinal width (w1) is between 100 nm and 1000 nm, and the ratio of the lateral width to the longitudinal width (w2/w1) is between 0.01 and 1.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 7, wherein 10 nm≤t≤30 nm, 300 nm≤w1≤800 nm, and 0.1≤(w2/w1)≤1.

### Claim 9 (depends on 8)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 8, wherein the value of the first weight percentage is ranged between 50% and 70%, the value of the second weight percentage is ranged between 30% and 50%, and the value of the weight percentage of the nano-scale flaky inorganic substances in the hard coating layer is between 5% and 15%.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The method for manufacturing a polymer plastic front plate of claim 9, wherein the plastic substrate is one of the following: polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) plate, polycarbonate (PC) plate, PMMA/PC double-layer composite plate, and PMMA/PC/PMMA three-layer composite plate.