Claims
- 1. An article comprising a polymer layer containing a plurality of integral polymer conduit channels that contain at least two layers with at least one comprising a conductive material and the other serving a function beyond protection.
- 2. The article of claim 1 comprising two or more distinct conductive layers.
- 3. The article of claim 1 wherein said two or more conductive layers are separated by an insulating layer with a conductivity greater than 5,000 ohms/cm.
- 4. The article of claim 1 wherein said two or more layers have a conductivity difference of greater than 200 ohms/cm.
- 5. The article of claim 1 wherein said two or more layers differ in index of refraction by at least 0.10.
- 6. The article of claim 1 wherein said two or more layers are separated by an adhesive layer.
- 7. The article of claim 1 wherein said two or more layers comprises an electrical dielectric material.
- 8. The article of claim 1 wherein said two or more layers comprises an electrical gradient.
- 9. The article of claim 1 wherein said, two or more layers are separated by a diffusion membrane.
- 10. The article of claim 1 wherein said channels further comprises a protective layer.
- 11. The article of claim 1 wherein said article further comprises an oriented polymer sheet located adjacent said two or more layers.
- 12. The article of claim 1 wherein at least one layer of said two or more layers contains a colored dye.
- 13. The article of claim 1 wherein said conductive material comprises a substantially transparent conductive polymer material.
- 14. The article of claim 13 wherein said conductive polymer comprises an electronically conductive polymer.
- 15. The article of claim 13 wherein said electronically conductive polymer material is selected from the group consisting of substituted or unsubstituted aniline containing polymers, substituted or unsubstituted pyrrole containing polymers, substituted or unsubstituted thiophene containing polymers.
- 16. The article of claim 13 wherein said electronically conductive polymer is selected from the group consisting of poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene styrene sulfonate), poly(pyrrole styrene sulfonate) and poly(3,4-ethylene dioxypyrrole styrene sulfonate).
- 17. The article of claim 1 wherein said conductive material comprises a gelatin binder and metallic salt.
- 18. The article of claim 1 wherein said resistivity of the said conductive materials is less than 600 ohm meters.
- 19. The article of claim 1 wherein said resistivity of the said conductive materials is between 0.1 and 300 ohm meters.
- 20. The article of claim 1 wherein said conductive material wave guides visible light in the plane of the conduit.
- 21. The article of claim 1 wherein said article has a light transmission greater than 80%.
- 22. The article of claim 1 wherein said conduits have a depth of between 0.1 and 100 micrometers.
- 23. The article of claim 1 wherein said conduits have a depth of between 0.1 and 10 micrometers.
- 24. The article of claim 1 wherein said conduits have a spacing between 10 and 1000 micrometers.
- 25. The article of claim 1 wherein said conduits have a spacing between 50 and 250 micrometers.
- 26. The article of claim 1 wherein said polymer sheet as a thickness between 20 and 120 micrometers.
- 27. The article of claim 1 wherein said plurality of conduits intersect at least one intersection point.
- 28. The article of claim 1 wherein said plurality of conduits have at least one direction change greater than 30 degrees.
- 29. The article of claim 1 wherein said conduits comprise nanocomposite layered particles.
- 30. The article of claim 29 wherein said layered particle comprises smectite clay.
- 31. The article of claim 30 wherein said smectite clay comprises an intercalant selected from the group consisting of ethoxylated alcohol, polyether-block-polyamide and poly(ethylene oxide-b-caprolactone).
- 32. The article of claim 1 wherein said polymer layer further comprises discrete polymer features.
- 33. The article of claim 1 further comprising an image layer adjacent to said conduits.
- 34. A process for forming an article of claim 1 comprising forming a polymeric layer with a desired pattern of conduits and then inserting two or more layers within the desired conduits to form the article of claim 1.
- 35. The process of claim 34 wherein a smoothing layer is placed between two of the inserted layers.
- 36. A transmissive display comprising the article of claim 1.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is one of a group of four patent applications cofiled under attorney Docket Nos. 84872, 85007, 85772 and 85773.