- #1
wosoka
- 44
- 2
I need to make my own smart film for some experiments.
I've read enough articles on it to know the required components, how they are mixed and applied.
I have a 1:1 mixture of liquid crystal and UV curable resin and glass bead spacers that I need to apply between two ITO PETs and UV cure to bond all the layers together. Glass spacers are used to get unform thickness which is needed for uniform opacity/transparency.
This will create a "smart film".
This is probably done industrially by precision rollers and very powerful UV light to cure it immediately as it leaves the rollers, but I don't have access to such equipment.
Any ideas what else I can try?
If I squeeze the layers and release before UV curing I fear the thickness of the liquid crystal layer will increase back a little. So I probably need pressure applied while the UV glue inside the mixture is being cured by UV light.
I could squeeze the layers with a thick glass slab and use powerful UV LEDs to cure the liquid layer, but I fear the liquid leaked from the sides may adhere the glass slab to it. That could still be removed with an exacto knife but it may easily adhere to the baseplate as well, leaving it stuck between the two.
If I apply some powder or oil which will prevent adhesion to the glass slab and/or baseplate, it may affect the flat surface of the slabs required to cause the spacers inside the mixture to create a uniform 20 micron thickness across the sheet, as the outer layers of the "smart film" are plastic (PET) and not rigid glass. But I may be wrong on this, just an assumption.
Another option may be using some rigid material for a baseplate which doesn't get glue (UV curable resin) adhered to it. I am not aware of such material.
I've already tried without glass spacers and perfect layer thickness and just hand squeezing but the fading speed and opacity is not uniform across the sheet which is a requirement for my experiments.
Any ideas?
I've read enough articles on it to know the required components, how they are mixed and applied.
I have a 1:1 mixture of liquid crystal and UV curable resin and glass bead spacers that I need to apply between two ITO PETs and UV cure to bond all the layers together. Glass spacers are used to get unform thickness which is needed for uniform opacity/transparency.
This will create a "smart film".
This is probably done industrially by precision rollers and very powerful UV light to cure it immediately as it leaves the rollers, but I don't have access to such equipment.
Any ideas what else I can try?
If I squeeze the layers and release before UV curing I fear the thickness of the liquid crystal layer will increase back a little. So I probably need pressure applied while the UV glue inside the mixture is being cured by UV light.
I could squeeze the layers with a thick glass slab and use powerful UV LEDs to cure the liquid layer, but I fear the liquid leaked from the sides may adhere the glass slab to it. That could still be removed with an exacto knife but it may easily adhere to the baseplate as well, leaving it stuck between the two.
If I apply some powder or oil which will prevent adhesion to the glass slab and/or baseplate, it may affect the flat surface of the slabs required to cause the spacers inside the mixture to create a uniform 20 micron thickness across the sheet, as the outer layers of the "smart film" are plastic (PET) and not rigid glass. But I may be wrong on this, just an assumption.
Another option may be using some rigid material for a baseplate which doesn't get glue (UV curable resin) adhered to it. I am not aware of such material.
I've already tried without glass spacers and perfect layer thickness and just hand squeezing but the fading speed and opacity is not uniform across the sheet which is a requirement for my experiments.
Any ideas?
