Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of display technology, and in particular, to a flexible substrate, a flexible display panel, a flexible display device, and methods for manufacturing the same.
With the advancement of science and technology and the development of society, flexible display panels have been gradually used by consumers. Bendable and stretchable display panels have brought the consumers a new user experience while facilitating the consumers' lives.
However, for the currently developed stretchable display panels, when they are stretched or in a stretched state, the amount of deformation across the substrate or other film layers may vary due to uneven stress applied on the substrate or the other film layers. For example, in a condition that there are holes existing in the substrate or the other film layers, the amounts of deformation of the holes may vary hole by hole, and among others, there may exist more significant difference between the amounts of deformation of the portion of the holes falling within the region where a pull force is directly applied and the amounts of deformation of another portion of the holes away from the region where a pull force is directly applied, during the stretch, resulting in a relatively poor uniformity of the display effect across the display panels.
According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a flexible substrate comprising:
a first part; and
a second part at a side surface of the first part which is perpendicular to a plane in which the first part extends,
wherein an elastic modulus of the first part is less than an elastic modulus of the second part,
wherein holes are distributed in the flexible substrate.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second part comprises an elastic material, and the second part is attached to the first part.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second part is formed by doping an elastic material into a side end of a material layer, the side end is an end of the material layer close to a side surface of the material layer, which is perpendicular to a plane in which the material layer extends, and a portion of the material layer which is not doped forms the first part, wherein an elastic modulus of the elastic material is greater than the elastic modulus of the first part.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the elastic material comprises a rubber material or a stainless steel material.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, holes are distributed in the flexible substrate.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second part comprises a plurality of sub-parts located at different side surfaces of the first part respectively.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of the sub-parts is two, and the two sub-parts are respectively located at opposite side surfaces of the first part.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the number of the sub-parts is four, and the four sub-parts surround a periphery of the first part.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second part comprises a plurality of sections of film material, and the plurality of sections of film material are sequentially attached to one another and in turn to a side surface of the first part, elastic moduli of the sections of film material are different from the modulus of the first part, and the elastic moduli of the sections of film material are different from one another.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a doping concentration of the elastic material doped in the second part gradually decreases in a direction from the second part to the first part.
According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a flexible display panel, comprising a flexible substrate, a display functional layer and at least one protective film layer, wherein the flexible substrate and/or the at least one protective film layer comprises a first region corresponding to a display region of the display functional layer and a second region corresponding to a non-display region of the display functional layer, wherein an elastic modulus or elastic moduli of the first regions of the flexible substrate and/or the at least one protective film layer is/are less than an elastic modulus or elastic moduli of the second regions of the flexible substrate and/or the at least one protective film layer, wherein holes are distributed in the flexible substrate.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second region comprises an elastic material, and the second region is attached to the first region.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the second region is formed by doping an elastic material into a side end of a material layer, the side end is an end of the material layer close to a side surface of the material layer, which is perpendicular to a plane in which the material layer extends, and a portion of the material layer which is not doped forms the first region, wherein an elastic modulus of the elastic material is greater than the elastic modulus of the first region.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the at least one protective film layer comprises a back film located on a side of the flexible substrate away from the display functional layer and a cover plate located on a side of the display functional layer away from the flexible substrate.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the elastic material comprises a rubber material or a stainless steel material.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the flexible substrate, the back film and the cover plate each comprise a first region and a second region, and the second regions of the flexible substrate, the back film and the cover plate are made of different elastic materials.
According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a flexible display device, comprising the flexible display panel according to the second aspect.
According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for manufacturing a flexible substrate, comprising:
attaching an elastic material to a side surface of a flexible substrate base, or doping an elastic material into a side end of the flexible substrate base, the side surface being perpendicular to a plane in which the flexible substrate base extends,
wherein an elastic modulus of the flexible substrate base is less than an elastic modulus of the elastic material.
According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for manufacturing a flexible display panel, comprising:
forming a flexible substrate;
forming a display functional layer on the flexible substrate; and
forming at least one protective film layer,
wherein the flexible substrate and/or the at least one protective film layer comprises a first region corresponding to a display region of the display functional layer and a second region corresponding to a non-display region of the display functional layer, wherein an elastic modulus or elastic moduli of the first regions of the flexible substrate and/or the at least one protective film layer are less than an elastic modulus or elastic moduli of the second regions of the flexible substrate and/or the at least one protective film layer, wherein holes are distributed in the flexible substrate.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, the method further comprises:
attaching an elastic material to a side surface of the first region to form the second region; or
forming a material layer and doping an elastic material into a side end of the material layer to form the second region, the side end being an end of the material layer close to a side surface of the material layer, which is perpendicular to a plane of in which the material layer extends, a portion of the material layer which is not doped forming the first region.
The specific embodiments of the present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In order to describe the present disclosure more clearly, the present disclosure is further described below with reference to the embodiments and the accompanying drawings. Similar parts in the drawings are indicated by the same reference numerals. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the specific description below is illustrative but not restrictive, therefore the description should not limit the scope of the present disclosure.
Currently, in order to overcome the problem of uneven force caused by stretching or bending, and improve the stretching performance of a flexible display panel, the flexible display panel is generally provided with holes in a substrate and a protective film layer thereof, as shown in
In order to solve the above problems, as shown in
In a specific example, the flexible substrate provided with holes is taken as an example to describe the present disclosure, as shown in
The second part 2 may include a plurality of sub-parts 21 located at different side surfaces of the first part, respectively. For example, as shown in
In a specific embodiment, as shown in
In another specific embodiment, as shown in
Corresponding to the flexible substrate according to the foregoing embodiment, a method for manufacturing a flexible substrate is provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure. Since the method for manufacturing a flexible substrate according to this embodiment corresponds to the flexible substrate according to the foregoing embodiment, the aspects in the foregoing embodiment is also applicable to the method for manufacturing a flexible substrate according to this embodiment, and therefore they will not be described in detail in this embodiment.
As shown in
Corresponding to the flexible substrate according to the above embodiments, as shown in
In a specific example, the flexible display panel 200 shown in
In order to solve the problem of the differences in deformations caused by the uneven force during the stretch of the flexible display panel, a first region 25 and a second region may be provided on the flexible substrate 22 or the protective film layers including the back film 21 and the cover plate 24; alternatively, a first region 25 and a second region 26 may be provided on both the flexible substrate 22 and the protective film layers at the same time. It may be designed by those skilled in the art according to the actual application situation. The first region 25 corresponds to the display region of the flexible display panel 200, the second region 26 corresponds to the non-display region of the flexible display panel 200, and the elastic modulus of the second region 26 is greater than the elastic modulus of the first region 25. Therefore, when the flexible display panel 200 is subjected to a concentrated force in a transversal or longitudinal direction, a second region having a larger elastic modulus is provided on the flexible substrate 22 and/or the protective film layers including the back film 21 and the cover plate 24, facilitating effectively dispersing the concentrated force, so that the external force can be uniformly applied to the flexible substrate, thereby reducing the difference in deformation, and significantly improving the display effect of the flexible display panel 200. As an alternative, only one of the two protective film layers is provided with the first region 25 and the second region 26, and there is no second region 26 provided on the other of the two protective film layers.
In a specific embodiment, as shown in
In another specific embodiment, as shown in
Further, the second regions 26 of the flexible substrate 22, the back film 21, and the cover plate 24 may adopt different elastic materials. Respective specific elastic materials which match with the flexible substrate 22, the back film 21, and the cover plate 24 respectively may be determined by those skilled in the art according to the respective materials and the characteristic of materials, the manufacturing processes and costs of the flexible substrate, the back film and the cover plate
In the embodiments of the present disclosure, in view of the problem of non-uniform display caused by the inconsistent deformation amounts of the conventional flexible display panels when stretched, a flexible substrate and a flexible display panel are provided. The use of an elastic material with an elastic modulus, greater than that of the display area, in the non-display area of the flexible substrate and the protective film layer can improve the display uniformity of the display panel in a stretched state, effectively improving the display effect of the display panel and improving the user experience.
Corresponding to the flexible display panel according to the foregoing embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
Further, the method further includes: attaching an elastic material to a side surface of the first region to form the second region; or forming a material layer and doping an elastic material into a side end of the material layer to form the second region, a portion of the material layer which is not doped forming the first region.
Another embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a flexible display device including the flexible display panel according to the above embodiments. The flexible display device may be any product or component having a display function, such as an OLED TV, a display, a mobile phone and the like.
As a supplement to the embodiments of the present disclosure,
Similarly,
The solution of multiple sections of film material attaching to the first part and the solution of the doping concentration of the particles doped in the second part gradually decreasing from the outer edge to the inside are also applicable to the protective film layers, that is, the back film or the cover plate. Therefore, the second regions of the back film 21 and the cover plate 24 may include multiple sections of film material, and the elastic moduli of the sections of film material gradually decrease along the direction from the outer edge to the inside of the flexible substrate; or alternatively, the doping concentration of the particles doped in the second regions of the back film 21 and the cover plate 24 gradually decreases from the outer edge to the inner side of the flexible substrate.
In addition, the film materials in the second region of the flexible substrate 22, the back film 21, and the cover plate 24 may be the same or different; the doping concentration of the particles doped in the second regions of the flexible substrate 22, the back film 21, and the cover plate 24 may be changed in the same way or in a different way. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, in view of the problem of non-uniform display caused by the inconsistent deformation amounts of the flexible substrates of the conventional flexible display panels when stretched, a flexible substrate and a flexible display panel are provided. The use of an elastic material with an elastic modulus, greater than that of the display area, in the non-display area of the flexible substrate and the protective film layer of the flexible display panel can address the problem of display non-uniformity of the flexible display panel in a stretched state, effectively improving the display effect of the flexible display panel and improving the user experience.
Obviously, the above-mentioned embodiments of the present disclosure are merely examples for clearly describing the present disclosure, but not intended to limit the present disclosure. Other different forms of changes or modifications may be made by those skilled in the art based on the above description, but it cannot give all implementations herein. All obvious changes or modifications that come from the technical solutions of the present disclosure fall within the scope of the present disclosure.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201811188515.3 | Oct 2018 | CN | national |
This application is a Section 371 National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/CN2019/102270, filed on Aug. 23, 2019 and entitled with “FLEXIBLE SUBSTRATE, FLEXIBLE DISPLAY PANEL, FLEXIBLE DISPLAY DEVICE AND METHODS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME”, and claims priority to Chinese Application No. 201811188515.3, filed on Oct. 12, 2018, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2019/102270 | 8/23/2019 | WO | 00 |