Thermochromic liquid crystal inks
AssigneeSun Chemical Corporation
InventorsRoger Jacot, Kurt Klaus, Stefan Küffer
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Abstract
The present invention provides thermochromic liquid crystal inks and coatings. The ink and coating compositions comprise one or more non-encapsulated cholesteryl materials, one or more resins that are not cholesteryl materials, and one or more solvents. In certain embodiments, a thermochromic effect is observed at about body temperature.
Claims59
A liquid crystal reversible thermochromic ink or coating composition comprising:
- (a) one or more cholesteryl materials that are non-encapsulated;
- wherein each cholesteryl material has an anisotropic phase to mesophase threshold transition temperature TLC1, and a mesophase to isotropic phase threshold transition temperature TLC2;
- (b) one or more organic solvents;
- and
- (c) one or more resins that are not cholesteryl materials;
- wherein the total amount of all cholesteryl materials is 1 wt % to 30 wt %, based on the total weight of the composition;
- wherein the composition comprises less than 10 wt % water, based on the total weight of the ink or coating composition;
- and
- wherein the composition has an anisotropic phase to mesophase threshold transition temperature T1, and a mesophase to isotropic phase threshold transition temperature T2, wherein the composition has a bandwidth W, that is T2−T1, of 1° C. to 25° C.
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Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.