Patent Application
20160144538
This application claims the priority benefit from Taiwan Patent Application No. 103140225, filed on Nov. 20, 2014, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a biomimetic adhesive layer and a method of manufacturing the biomimetic adhesive layer, and more particularly to a biomimetic adhesive layer capable of controlling the adhesive direction and a method of manufacturing the same.
Currently, the electronics industry has evolved from traditional solid-state electronic components into flexible electronic components. The flexible electronic components have the advantages of being convenient and light. Because applications to mobile devices are more and more valued, the above advantages will be significant if the flexible components are applied to the mobile devices.
The flexible electronic component is generally formed by the integrated circuits being fabricated on a flexible substrate, but the process has its bottlenecks. The flexible substrate is usually required to be adhered temporarily onto a production stage during the production of the flexible electronic component, then the circuits are formed. After forming the circuits, the flexible electronic component needs to be removed from the production stage for subsequent processes. Since the flexible electronic component is too thin and light, the stress for overcoming the adhesion may cause damage to the flexible electronic component when removing the flexible electronic component, thereby affecting product yield.
Dry adhesion is an application of a biomimetic structure, and there is no residue after peeling off. The surface of the dry adhesion has a large number of micro-structures for generating an adsorption force, and its adhesive force is not reduced when re-using the dry adhesion. In the conventional process, these tiny structures are mostly formed by a lithography and etching process. First, photo resists and etching or the like are used to form the shapes of the tiny structures. Next, the tiny structures are filled with the molding material, and then the mold is cured and released. The mold has cavities complementary to the tiny structures. Next, the cavities are used to imprint and reproduce a large number of the tiny structures. However, lithography and etching processes are the more complex and time-consuming steps; when the design of the tiny structures is more complex, the process of exposure and development will be carried out more times. In addition, it is necessary to consider the yield of the cavities of the mold formed by the molding and releasing process.
It is therefore necessary to provide a biomimetic adhesive layer and a method of manufacturing the same to control the adhesive direction and adhesive force appropriately, and to simplify the manufacturing process in order to solve the problems existing in the conventional technology as described above.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide a biomimetic adhesive layer and a method of manufacturing the biomimetic adhesive layer. The biomimetic adhesive layer comprises permeance particles capable of being magnetized or attracted by magnetic force so as to change the adhesive direction of the biomimetic layer, and further control the adhesive force. It therefore controls the adhesive direction and force of the biomimetic adhesive layer without using complicated molds. In addition, the structural strength of the biomimetic adhesive layer can be improved by the added permeance particles.
A secondary object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a biomimetic adhesive layer with a metallic mold having filling apertures for forming the biomimetic adhesive layer. Since the metallic mold has benefits from being directly processed, it can be produced without the lithography process and the mold filing process. The manufacturing process of the mold can be simplified and has the advantage in mass production. The production cost of the biomimetic adhesive layer can be reduced.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a biomimetic adhesive layer comprising a plurality of protrusions, wherein each of the protrusions has a bottom surface and an upper surface; and a support portion connected with the bottom surface; wherein the protrusions are formed by a polymeric material mixed with permeance particles.
In one embodiment of the present invention, an area of the bottom surface is larger than an area of the upper surface.
In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the protrusions is shaped as a funnel and has a minimum external diameter.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the protrusions are columnar.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the area of the bottom surface is essentially equal to the area of the upper surface.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the minimum external diameter is smaller than an external diameter of the upper surface.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the minimum external diameter is ranged from 3 to 30 microns (μm).
In one embodiment of the present invention, the bottom surface is not parallel with the upper surface.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the upper surfaces are parallel with each other.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the upper surface is not parallel with the bottom surface in parts of the protrusions.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the upper surfaces of the parts of the protrusions are not parallel with the upper surfaces of other ports of the protrusions.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the polymeric material comprises thermoplastic polymers or photosensitive polymers.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the permeance particles are iron oxides, nickel aluminum alloys, chromium iron alloys, iron chromium molybdenum alloys, iron aluminum carbon alloys, iron cobalt alloys, manganese aluminum carbon alloys, or nickel iron alloys.
The present invention further provides a method of manufacturing a biomimetic adhesive layer, comprising steps of (1) providing a metallic mold having a plurality of filling apertures; (2) compressing a polymer substrate with the metallic mold to fill the polymer substrate within the filing apertures; (3) curing the polymer substrate; and (4) separating the metallic mold from the polymer substrate to obtain the biomimetic adhesive layer.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the polymer substrate is formed by a polymeric material mixed with permeance particles.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the polymeric material comprises thermoplastic polymers or photosensitive polymers.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the permeance particles are iron oxides, nickel aluminum alloys, chromium iron alloys, iron chromium molybdenum alloys, iron aluminum carbon alloys, iron cobalt alloys, manganese aluminum carbon alloys, or nickel iron alloys.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises a step after the step (4): (5) adjusting an adhesive direction of the biomimetic adhesive layer.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the step (5) is performed by attracting the permeance particles by magnetic force so that the adhesive direction is changed from a forward direction to a side direction.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the step (1) comprises sub-steps of performing micro electrical discharge machining on a metal plate to form a plurality of via holes; and plating the via holes to form the filing apertures.
In one embodiment of the present invention, each of the filing apertures has two openings and one channel.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the channel is shaped as a funnel, and has a minimum internal diameter smaller than internal diameters of the openings.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the minimum internal diameter is ranged from 3 to 30 microns (μm).
In one embodiment of the present invention, the step (3) further comprises a step of heating to soften the polymer substrate.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the polymer substrate is heated to a temperature above 120° C.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the step (3) is performed by cooling to cure the polymer substrate.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the step (3) is performed by irradiating to cure the polymer substrate.
In one embodiment of the present invention, when compressing the polymer substrate with the metallic mold, the metallic mold is pressed by using a plate.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the biomimetic adhesive layer comprises a plurality of protrusions, wherein each of the protrusions has a bottom surface and an upper surface; and a support portion connected with the bottom surface; wherein the protrusions are formed on one surface of the polymer substrate.
In one embodiment of the present invention, the protrusions are formed at positions corresponding to the filing apertures.
The structure and the technical means adopted by the present invention to achieve the above and other objects can be best understood by referring to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying drawings. Furthermore, directional terms described by the present invention, such as upper, lower, front, back, left, right, inner, outer, side, longitudinal/vertical, transverse/horizontal, etc., are only directions by referring to the accompanying drawings. If there is no specific description in the invention, singular terms such as “a”, “one”, and “the” include the plural number. For example, “a compound” or “at least one compound” may include a plurality of compounds or the mixtures thereof. If there is no specific description in the invention, the “%” means “weight percent (wt %)”, and the numerical range (e.g. 10%˜11% of A) contains the upper and lower limit (i.e. 10%≦A≦11%). If the lower limit is not defined in the range (e.g. less than, or below 0.2% of B), it means that the lower limit is 0 (i.e. 0%≦B≦0.2%). The proportion of “weight percent” of each component can be replaced by the proportion of “weight portion” thereof. The abovementioned terms are used to describe and understand the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
The drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification. In addition, the size and thickness of each component shown in the drawings allow ease of understanding and ease of description, but the present invention is not limited thereto.
In the drawings, the thickness of layers, films, panels, regions, etc., are exaggerated for clarity. In the drawings, for understanding and ease of description, the thicknesses of some layers and areas are exaggerated. It should be understood that when an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being “on” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present.
It should be understood that when an element such as a layer, film, region, or substrate is referred to as being “on” another element or “to” another element, it can be directly on the other element or intervening elements may also be present. On the contrary, when an element is referred to as being “directly on” another element, or “directly to” another element, there is no intervening element between one another. Furthermore, when an element is referred to as being “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. On the contrary, when an element is referred to as being “directly connected to” or “directly coupled to” another element, there is no intervening element between one another.
In addition, in the specification, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the words “comprising”, “including”, “having”, and variations such as “comprises” or “comprising” will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated features, entirety, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or their combinations, but not the exclusion thereof.
Refer to
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In one embodiment, a part of the protrusions 11 can be controlled to deform by using the permeance particles capable of being attracted by magnetic force or magnetized, so that the upper surface 112 of the protrusion is not parallel with the bottom surface 111 of the same protrusion within the part (region) of the protrusions 11, and the upper surface 112 which belongs to the protrusion in the part of the protrusions 11 is not parallel with the upper surface 112 which belongs to the protrusion in the other part of the protrusions 11.
Furthermore, in the biomimetic adhesive layer 10 according to this embodiment, the polymeric material can be thermoplastic polymers or photosensitive polymers. The permeance particles are iron oxides, nickel aluminum alloys, chromium iron alloys, iron chromium molybdenum alloys, iron aluminum carbon alloys, iron cobalt alloys, manganese aluminum carbon alloys, or nickel iron alloys.
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Furthermore, in one embodiment, alternatively, if the polymer substrate comprises the permeance particles, the adhesive direction of the biomimetic adhesive layer 10 can be adjusted after the biomimetic adhesive layer is obtained. When adjusting the adhesive direction of the biomimetic adhesive layer 10, the face direction of the upper surface 112 or the shape of the protrusions 11 can be modified by attracting the permeance particles with magnetic force or magnetizing the permeance particles, so as to change the adhesive direction of the biomimetic adhesive layer from a forward direction to a side direction. Therefore, refer back to
Moreover, in a method of manufacturing a biomimetic adhesive layer according to one embodiment, a part of the protrusions 11 can be controlled to deform by using the permeance particles capable of being attracted by magnetic force or magnetized, so that the upper surface 112 of the protrusion is not parallel with the bottom surface 111 of the same protrusion within the part (region) of the protrusions 11, and the upper surface 112 which belongs to the protrusion in the part of the protrusions 11 is not parallel with the upper surface 112 which belongs to the protrusion in other part of the protrusions 11.
Refer to
Compared with conventional techniques, a biomimetic adhesive layer according to the present invention comprises permeance particles capable of being magnetized or attracted by magnetic force so as to change the adhesive direction of the biomimetic layer, and further control the adhesive force. In addition, the structural strength of the biomimetic adhesive layer can be improved by the added permeance particles. Furthermore, the present invention also provides a method of manufacturing a biomimetic adhesive layer with a metallic mold having benefits from being directly processed, so as to be produced without the lithography process and the mold filing process. The manufacturing process of the mold can be simplified, and thus has advantages of mass production and yield improvement. The production cost of the biomimetic adhesive layer can be reduced.
Moreover, methods within the scope of this disclosure may include more or fewer steps than those described.
The phrases “in some embodiments” and “in various embodiments” are used repeatedly. These phrases generally do not refer to the same embodiments; however, they may. The terms “comprising”, “having”, and “including” are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise.
Although various example methods, apparatuses, and systems have been described herein, the scope of coverage of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. On the contrary, the present disclosure covers all methods, apparatus, systems, and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claims, which are to be construed in accordance with established doctrines of claim interpretation. For example, although the above discloses example systems including, among other components, software or firmware executed on hardware, it should be noted that such systems are merely illustrative and should not be considered as limiting. In particular, it is contemplated that any or all of the disclosed hardware, software, and/or firmware components could be embodied exclusively in hardware, exclusively in software, exclusively in firmware or in some combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware.
The present invention has been described with preferred embodiments thereof and it is understood that many changes and modifications to the described embodiments can be carried out without departing from the scope and the spirit of the invention that is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 103140225 | Nov 2014 | TW | national |
