Patent Application
20180141854
The present invention relates generally to a method of fabricating a multi-functional glass. In particular, the present invention is directed to a method of fabricating a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities.
Mobile communication devices with the touch panel application are currently used throughout the world so everyone has a smart phone. In order to improve the outdoor usability of smart phones, the anti-glare and anti-reflective coating treatments are performed on the panel. In addition to smart phones, the touch panel is also commonly used for ATMs, vending machines and portable tablet PCs, and is also widely used for large-scale interactive touch screens of public facilities such as electronic touch interactive guide cards.
The touch panel is used for smart phones and portable tablet PCs, and is commonly used for public facilities including ATMs, vending machines and electronic touch interactive guide cards. After many times of use and many finger contacts, the touch panel will accumulate invisible bacteria and visible fingerprints and filth, the follow-up users run the risk of contamination and infection. Therefore, the touch panel needs to perform the anti-microbial treatment and anti-fingerprint treatment.
The panel of mobile phones and part of the flat-panel displays uses touch-type. The operation of mobile phones and the function and display of the flat-panel displays are carried out through a finger pressing or touching the panel. After many people, many times, and long-term use of the touch panel, there is a need of the tempered glass with resistant-pressing. Because many people using the touch panel will leave the vague fingerprints, resulting in poor panel visual effects. With the problem brought by fingerprints, fingerprint oil ester contains contamination, bacteria, mold and virus, causing infection transmission.
In recent years, the amount of touch panels is increasing and the functional requirements of touch panels is expanding, therefore, there is a need of a new multi-functional glass and the production technology, which can make the glass have anti-glare, strengthened, anti-bacterial and anti-fingerprint effects.
For example, Carlson et al. already has a patent issued as TWI 496751 on 21 Aug. 2015, wherein a glass etching containing Al2O3 is performed by using hydrofluoric acid (HF) solution to obtain surface roughened glass, and then a chemical strengthening is performed by using surface Na/K ion exchange to produce an strengthened anti-glare glass. However, the glass of TWI 496751 does not have anti-bacterial and anti-fingerprint effects.
The United States Guardian company, Wang et al., already has a patent issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,968,831 B2 on 3 Mar. 2015, in which the micron roughening is performed on the glass surface, and then splashing water or a hydrophilic material coating are applied, thereby forming a glass with anti-glare and anti-fingerprint coated glass. However, the glass of U.S. Pat. No. 8,968,831 B2 does not have anti-bacterial and strengthened effects.
The present invention provides a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities.
According to a main embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capability. First, a glass substrate with a target surface is provided. Then, the following steps are performed: performing an anti-glare treatment upon the target surface by using a mixed acid solution; performing a strengthening treatment upon the target surface by using KNO3; performing an anti-microbial treatment upon the target surface by using a silver-containing fluid; and performing an anti-fingerprint treatment upon the target surface by forming a fluorocarbon siloxane layer on the target surface.
The method of manufacturing a glass with multi-functions provided by the present invention has proved that it makes the multi-functional glass have good anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
To provide a better understanding of the presented invention to persons having skill in the art, preferred embodiments are described in detail following. The preferred embodiments of the present invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings with numbered elements and the desired effects are achieved.
The present invention provides a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities.
Step 400: providing a glass substrate with a target surface;
Step 402: performing an anti-glare treatment upon the target surface;
Step 404: performing a strengthening treatment upon the target surface;
Step 406: performing an anti-microbial treatment upon the target surface; the embodiments of this step includes:
Step 406A: performing an Ag+ infiltration anti-microbial treatment upon the target surface by using AgNO3 molten salt;
Step 406B: performing an anti-microbial treatment upon the target surface by using nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol coating;
Step 408: performing an anti-fingerprint treatment upon the target surface.
For the purpose of describing in detail the manufacturing steps of the present invention; please refer to
In one embodiment, the glass substrate 300 is flat glass having a thickness of 0.5 to 6.0 millimeter (mm), and its main content is soda-lime glass or aluminum silicate glass, and may contain silicon oxide (SiO2), sodium oxide (Na2O), potassium oxide (K2O), Lithium oxide (Li2O), magnesium oxide (MgO), calcium oxide (CaO), boron oxide (B2O3), alumina (Al2O3), arsenic oxide (As2O3), zirconium oxide (ZrO2), titanium oxide (TiO2), tin oxide (SnO2), or cerium oxide (CeO2); preferable is silicon oxide (SiO2), sodium oxide (Na2O), boron oxide (B2O3), or alumina (Al2O3), but are not limited thereto.
In one embodiment, the glass substrate 300 contains a silicon oxide (SiO2) content of 66 mole %, an alumina (Al2O3) content of 10 mole %, a sodium oxide (Na2O) content of 14 mole %, a potassium oxide (K2O) content of 2.5 mole %, a magnesium oxide (MgO) content of 5.7 mole %, a calcium oxide (CaO) content of 0.6 mole %, a boron oxide (B2O3) content of 0.6 mole %.
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
Next, as shown in
In another embodiment, the resulting strengthened anti-glare glass surface 306 is optionally coated with a nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol. As shown in
In another embodiment, an anti-microbial treatment (step 406A) of molten salt silver ion Ag+ diffusion is performed on the resulting strengthened anti-glare glass surface 306, followed by an anti-microbial treatment (step 406B) of Ag—SiO2 sol coating. The above two anti-microbial treatment examples are combined, for example, by performing a treatment with the mixed molten salt of AgNO3 and KNO3 to obtain a nano silver permeated anti-microbial surface 308, and then performing a treatment with the nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol coating, thereby forming an anti-reflective and anti-microbial coating surface 310.
Next, as shown in
The anti-glare treatment, strengthening treatment, anti-microbial treatment and anti-fingerprint treatment may be performed upon the flat glass through the above steps. It should be noted that the aforementioned treatment techniques such as the anti-glare treatment 402, the strengthening treatment 404, the anti-microbial treatment 406A or 406B and anti-fingerprint treatment 408, the resulting multi-functional panel glass has different effects due to performing different anti-microbial treatments 406A or 406B. A glass with anti-reflective capability is obtained by forming an anti-microbial coating surface 310 by using nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol, which can enhance the anti-glare effect. Then, the anti-fingerprint treatment is performed to obtain a multi-functional panel glass having the best effect.
During the anti-microbial treatment, the exchange of silver ions by using the molten salt of AgNO3 and KNO3 to obtain an anti-microbial surface 308 can be optionally performed, or an anti-microbial coating surface 310 can be optionally formed by using nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol. A glass with a better anti-glare effect is obtained by forming the anti-microbial coating surface 310 by using nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol, followed by performing an anti-fingerprint treatment to form an anti-fingerprint coating 312.
In the embodiments of the present invention, the lower cost processing steps are in the following order: anti-glare treatment 302, strengthening treatment 304, anti-microbial treatment 306, and anti-fingerprint treatment 312.
Hereinafter, embodiments and experiments of the present invention will be described to confirm the anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capability of glass substrates.
A method of manufacturing a glass with anti-glare capability.
An anti-glare glass of example 1 is manufactured by performing a glass etched anti-glare roughening process with HF mixed acid. The formulation of HF mixed acid of the present invention has two characteristics: (1) if the concentration of any ingredient used in the formulation is 0, the ingredient may not be used. Therefore, hydrofluoric acid (HF) may not be used in the formulations 1 to 4 to make the process preparation and use safer; (2) a fluorine surfactant in a concentration of 100 ppm is added into the formulation of the HF mixed acid to manufacture an anti-glare rough surface layer having good quality and easy to control by performing a glass etching process. The formulations of HF mixed acid used in the present invention are listed in Table 1.
An anti-glare glass having preferable quality is manufactured by performing an anti-glare glass etching process with the formulation 1 of HF mixed acid, wherein the formulation 1 includes sulfuric acid (98 wt %) 15-40%, acetic acid 5-20%, ammonium fluoride (40%) 10-40%, water 5-80% and fluorine surfactant 100˜400 ppm.
A method of manufacturing a glass with anti-glare and chemical strengthened capability.
A chemical strengthening treatment is performed by immersing a glass in the KNO3 as a raw material at a temperature of 400 to 450° C. for 3 to 6 hours to manufacture a glass with anti-glare, strengthened capabilities.
First, in order to confirm the effect of the strengthening treatment of the present invention, please refer to Table 2 and Table 3. Table 2 and Table 3 are the measurements of the production temperature, time test and glass strength of, respectively, two kinds of glass substrates: soda-lime glass and aluminum silicate glass, after immersing in the KNO3. The results are expressed in terms of two parameters: Compressed Strength (CS) and Depth of Layer (DoL). The unit of Compressed Strength (CS) is Mpa and the unit of Depth of Layer (DoL) is microns (μm).
In the case of soda-lime glass, the general untreated soda-lime glass has strength of about 100 MPa. As shown in Table 2, after the chemical strengthening treatment with KNO3, the soda-lime glass has a Compressed Strength >400 MPa, Depth of Layer >8 μm, confirmed that the chemical strengthening treatment of the present invention can effectively strengthen the soda-lime glass. Preferably, performing the chemical strengthening treatment at a temperature ≥425° C. for ≥3 hours can get better chemical effect of the soda-lime glass. In the case of aluminum silicate glass, the general untreated aluminum silicate glass has strength of about 100 MPa. As shown in Table 3, after the chemical strengthening treatment with KNO3, the aluminum silicate glass has a Compressed Strength >800 MPa, Depth of Layer >40 μm, confirmed that the chemical strengthening treatment of the present invention can effectively strengthen the aluminum silicate glass. Preferably, performing the chemical strengthening treatment at a temperature ≥425° C. for ≥3 hours can get better chemical effect of the aluminum silicate glass.
A method of manufacturing a glass with anti-glare, strengthened and nano silver anti-microbial capability.
An anti-glare strengthened glass is immersed in the mixed molten salt of AgNO3 and KNO3 for 10-30 minutes to exchange silver ions, thereby forming a nano-silver anti-glare strengthened glass, wherein the AgNO3/KNO3 is used in an amount of 0.01-5.0 wt % and the process temperature is 350-425° C. An anti-microbial rate if the resulting glass with nano-silver anti-microbial, anti-glare and strengthened capabilities is 99.9%.
Optical and surface anti-glare quality measurement results of nano-silver anti-glare strengthened glass productions are shown in Table 4. The sample 1 and the sample 2 refer to two different components of the glass to perform sample manufacture and sample test. In the measured items, GLOSS is measured by BYK-4374 produced by BYK; reflectivity (% R) is measured by spectrophotometer (MCPD-3000) produced by Otsuka; transmittance (% T) and haze are measured by the NDH-5000 haze machine produced by Nippon Denshoku Industries Co. LTD; the image discrimination is measured by IQ-206085 produced by Rhopoint Co; the rough Ra, RPc, Rz and Rmax are measured by the SJ-1 produced by Mitutoyo Co., Ltd.
A method of manufacturing a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, nano silver anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities.
Nano-silver anti-microbial anti-glare strengthened glass coating is performed by using fluorocarbon ether siloxane (RO)3—Si—(CH2)3—[O(CF2)2]n—F or fluorosilicone (RO)3—Si—(CH2)3—(C2F4)n—F as a raw material dissolved in ethanol (EtOH) solvent to obtain fluorosilicone solution in the concentration of 0.01 to 1.0 wt %, thereby manufacturing a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities. The contact angle and wear resistance of the glass are measured to Measure the anti-microbial changes. The results are list in Table 5. If anti-microbial anti-glare strengthened glass coating is performed by using fluorocarbon ether siloxane (RO)3—Si—(CH2)3—[O(CF2)2]n—F dissolved in ethanol (EtOH) solvent in the concentration of 0.01 wt %, the water contact angle of the glass may be greater than 100° to make the glass have anti-fingerprint capability. The use of the concentration of 0.05 wt %, water contact angle of the glass may be greater than 110°; the use of concentration of 0.5 wt %, water contact angle of the glass is up to 118°. The anti-microbial capability of the glass is not reduced by fluorosilicone coating.
High efficiency anti-glare anti-microbial anti-fingerprint strengthened glass production.
A glass etched roughening process is performed by using HF mixed acid to manufacture an anti-glare glass. The quality of the anti-glare glass is shown in Table 1 and the anti-glare effects of anti-glare glass are shown in Table 2. The anti-glare glass of the present example is manufactured by using formula 1 of HF mixed acid.
A chemical strengthening treatment is performed by immersing the glass in the KNO3 at a temperature of 400 to 450° C. for 3 to 5 hours to manufacture a glass with anti-glare, strengthened capabilities.
First, nano-silver-silicon oxide (Ag—SiO2) sol is prepared. Next, an anti-glare strengthened glass optical coating is performed to manufacture a high efficiency anti-glare anti-microbial glass, wherein the thickness of the coating is ¼λ, λ=550 nm. The formulations of the Ag—SiO2 sol are listed in Table 6. SiO2 mixed sol is produced by using nano-silver-silicon oxide sol with different formulations for hydrolysis condensation. A nano-silver anti-microbial coating is performed upon the anti-glare glass. The main components of the formulations are AgNO3, formaldehyde, amine siloxane chelating agent such as KBM-903 (3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane [(C2H5O)3SiC3H6NH2] supplied by Shin-Etsu Co., Ltd., KBM-603 (N-2 aminoethyl-3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane [(CH3O)3SiC3H6NHC2H4NH2] with a tetraoxysilane. In order to manufacture a high efficiency anti-glare anti-microbial glass, the sol of formulation 2 is used to improve anti-glare effect, wherein the coating refractive index is ≤1.46.
A high efficiency anti-glare anti-microbial glass is manufactured by performing an anti-glare strengthened glass sol coating using the sol with formulation 2. The coating quality of the glass are measured and shown in Table 7. The anti-glare effects of the glass are great, wherein average reflectivity R is <5.0% invisible light, transmittance T is >87%, scattering rate A is >11%. The pencil hardness of the glass is up to 8H grade, CNS 13033 of the glass is A-level and CNS 13033 is B-level.
Next, a high efficiency anti-glare anti-microbial anti-fingerprint strengthened glass is manufactured by performing a nano-silver anti-glare strengthened glass coating with fluorosilicone solution. The anti-glare effects of the glass are great and are shown in Table 8, for example, an average reflectance R=5.44% in visible light, transmittance T=92.75%, DOI=89.1%. The microscope shows transmitted image and reflection image.
In view of the above, the present invention provides a method of manufacturing a glass with anti-glare, strengthened, anti-microbial and anti-fingerprint capabilities. The glass of the present invention may be applied to any electronic product, for example on a display device, preferably on a touch display device.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 105137739 | Nov 2016 | TW | national |
