This application claims the benefit of Taiwan application Serial No. 102140542, filed Nov. 7, 2013, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a display device and a manufacturing method thereof, and more particularly to a touch display device and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a touch display device is provided in response to the popularity of touch-related software and hardware. In the touch display device, a touch panel and a display panel are bonded by using a rectangle-shaped double-sided adhesive and are supported by a backlight frame. The user applies a force on the touch panel of the touch display device to operate the touch display device. Since an ordinary touch panel may have insufficient edge strength, the touch panel may break off and the touch function will be incapacitated if a force is improperly applied on the touch panel. Therefore, how to enhance the edge strength of the touch panel so as to avoid the touch panel breaking has become a prominent task for the industries.
The invention is directed to a touch display device and a manufacturing method thereof, which enhances edge strength of a touch panel by way of changing a cutting direction during a cutting process and effectively avoids the touch panel being broken off by a force improperly applied on the touch panel.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a touch display device is provided. The touch display device comprises a display panel and a touch panel disposed on the display panel. The touch panel comprises a touch substrate and a sensing electrode layer. The touch substrate has a first surface, a second surface and a third surface. The first surface is opposite to the third surface and away from the display panel. The second surface is connected to the first surface and the third surface, and has a stress fracture area adjacent to the first surface. The sensing electrode layer is disposed on the third surface.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, a manufacturing method of a touch display device is provided. The manufacturing method comprises following steps. A touch substrate having a first surface and a third surface opposite to the first surface is provided. A sensing electrode layer is disposed on the third surface to form a plurality of touch panels. A touch substrate having the sensing electrode layer is cut and broken off on the first surface to separate one of the touch panels from the other touch panels. The separated touch panel further has a second surface adjacent to the first surface. The second surface has a stress fracture area adjacent to a cutting edge of the separated touch panel. A display panel is disposed on the third surface of the touch substrate of the separated touch panel to form a touch display device.
The above and other aspects of the invention will become better understood with regard to the following detailed description of the preferred but non-limiting embodiment(s). The following description is made with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In the present embodiment, the touch panel 1 can be a capacitive touch panel or a resistive touch panel, and the first surface 11 can be a touch pressing surface. That is, the user can press the first surface 11 of the touch substrate 10 with an object such as a finger or a stylus, such that the touch display device 100 generates a corresponding specific function. For example, the user presses one point or multi-points on the first surface 11 or generates a pressing locus on the first surface 11.
In an embodiment, the cutting process may comprise forming a cutter mark on the touch substrate 10 by using a cutting knife. After the cutting process is completed, the vibration of a transfer device enables the touch substrate 10 to be separated along the cutter mark or transferred to a breaking device to be treated with the breaking process. The breaking process may comprise separating the touch substrate 10 according to a position of the cutter mark.
As indicated in
As shown in
The second area 1212, such as a rough area, has cracks. For example, the cracks are formed when a breaking device applies a force on the touch substrate 10 along a cutter mark of the cutting knife. The touch substrate 10 may be transferred to the breaking device through the vibration of a transfer device, or moved to the breaking device. In an embodiment, the cracks may have a plurality of micro-structures having an irregular shape or a shell shape. The second area 1212 has a width between 10 μm˜70 μm along the direction (that is, the Z direction) substantially perpendicular to the first surface 11. Likewise, the width of the second area 1212 along the direction (that is, the Z direction) substantially perpendicular to the first surface 11 and the shape of the cracks may vary with the parameter setting of the manufacturing process and the machine equipment used in the manufacturing process.
In an embodiment, the touch panel can further be treated with a grinding process.
In the present embodiment, the grinding process can make the intersection 1112 become a chamfer θ of about 20°, but the invention is not limited thereto. The chamfer θ can be between 10˜40° depending on the equipment used in the grinding process. As shown in
When the user presses the touch panel 1 with an object such as a finger or a stylus, a stress is generated and applied on the touch panel 1. Meanwhile, the first surface 11 receives a compressive stress, and the sensing electrode layer 20 receives a tensile stress. Since the stress fracture area 121 is adjacent to the first surface 11, the stress fracture area 121 also receives a compressive stress.
On the second area 1212, the cracks receiving a tensile stress are more likely to spread than the cracks receiving a compressive stress. That is, more cracks will be formed on the tensile-stress-receiving surface due to the spreading effect of cracks. Once the cracks spreads to a threshold, the touch panel 1 will break off completely. In addition, the cracks may incapacitate the touch function. That is, when the cracks spreads to an area which the user presses or touches with an object such as a finger or a stylus, the touch panel 1 will fail to generate a corresponding specific function.
According to the touch display device 100 of an embodiment of the invention, the stress fracture area with cracks 121 is disposed on a compressive stress surface. Hence, it is effectively avoiding the spreading of the cracks. That is, the touch display device 100 of an embodiment of the invention has better compressive resistance and effectively avoids the touch panel 1 from being broken off and incapacitated when the user improperly applies a force on the touch panel.
In an embodiment, the display panel 2 may comprise a first substrate 30, a second substrate 40 and a dielectric layer 50 as indicated in
In an embodiment, the display panel 2 can be a liquid crystal display panel, and the dielectric layer 50 of the display panel 2 can be a liquid crystal layer, but the invention is not limited thereto. In another embodiment, the display panel 2 can also be an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display panel.
In an embodiment, the first substrate 30 can be a color filter substrate, and the second substrate 40 can be a thin-film transistor (TFT) substrate. Likewise, the varieties of the first substrate 30 and the second substrate 40 are not restricted. In some embodiments, the TFT and the color filter can co-exist in the first substrate 30 or the second substrate 40.
Moreover, the sensing electrode layer 20 of an embodiment of the invention can be made of material such as indium tin oxide (ITO) or indium zinc oxide (IZO).
Firstly, as indicated in
Next, a sensing electrode layer 20 is disposed on the third surface 13 to form a plurality of touch panels 1. In an embodiment, the sensing electrode layer 20 can be disposed on the third surface 13 by using a lithography technology. In another embodiment, the sensing electrode layer 20 can be adhered on the third surface 13 by a transparent adhesive.
Then, a cutting process and a breaking process are performed on the first surface to cut and break off the touch substrate 10 having the sensing electrode layer 20, such that the touch panels 1 are separated from one another. The separated touch panel 1 further has a second surface 12 adjacent to the first surface 11. The second surface 12 has a stress fracture area 121 adjacent to the cutting position of the touch panel 1. Descriptions of the structures of the second surface 12 and the stress fracture area 121 are made with reference to
Descriptions of the manufacturing method are further disclosed below with accompanying drawings
In an embodiment, prior to the step of transferring the touch substrate 10 having the sensing electrode layer 20 to the cutting device 70 along the Y direction, the manufacturing method may further comprise a turning over step for turning over the first surface 11 of the touch substrate 10 to face upward. In the present embodiment, after the touch panel 1 is treated with the cutting process and the breaking process, the touch panel 1 may have another stress fracture area 122 opposite to the stress fracture area 121 (not shown in
Then, as indicated in
In an embodiment, an intersection 1112 between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12 or the intersection 1112′ between the first surface 11 and the second surface 12′ can be treated with a grinding process, such that the second area 1212 comprises a first sub-area 1212A and a second sub-area 12126. The first sub-area 1212A is an area treated with the grinding process. The grinding process makes a partial surface of the stress fracture area 121 or the stress fracture area 122 (such as the surface of the first sub-area 1212A) smoother and at the same time reduces the cracks.
As indicated in
During the 4-point bending test, a stress is applied on load bearings L1 and L2, and the touch panel 5 is supported by support bearings S1 and S2. One side of the touch panel 5 contacting the load bearing L1 and L2 receives a compressive stress, while the other side of the touch panel 5 contacting the support bearing S1 and S2 receives a tensile stress. When the stress gradually increases to a threshold at which the touch panel 5 will generate failure, the breaking pressure a (MPa) at the time point can be obtained according to the following formulas:
Wherein,
D1 is a distance (mm) between the load bearings L1 and L2;
D2 is a distance (mm) between the support bearings S1 and S2;
F is a stress (N) when the touch panel 5 generates failure;
b is a width (mm) of the touch panel 5;
h is a thickness (mm) of the touch panel 5.
The cracks receiving a compressive stress are less likely to spread than the cracks receiving a tensile stress. That is, the compressive stress will not generate new cracks. Therefore, the touch panel 1 of an embodiment of the invention has stronger compressive resistance.
In the embodiments and comparison examples disclosed below, tests are performed with different conditions, and experimental results of the tests are analyzed according to the Weibull distribution. Furthermore, a breaking pressure (referred as B10 value) corresponding to a probability of 10% is taken and recorded. In an embodiment of the invention, the cutting process is performed on a surface of the touch substrate away from the sensing electrode layer (on the first surface 11 of
Table 1 and Table 2 show the results of a 4-point bending test after a touch panel is cut by using machine A and machine B respectively. The “single-grinded cutting edge” refers to grinding a portion of a touch panel contacting the cutting knife during the cutting process.
Table 1 shows the results of the 4-point bending test performed on a touch panel having been treated with a cutting process and a breaking process by machine A. The conditions of machine A are set as follows: cutting knife: machine with 125 degrees/110 teeth, PENETT, Mitsubishi (MDI);
whetstone of grinding wheel: resin mixed adhesive;
feed rate of grinding: 7,800 mm/min;
rotation speed of grinding: 14,000 rpm.
Table 2 shows the results of a 4-point bending test performed on a touch panel having been treated with a cutting process and a breaking process by a machine B. The conditions of machine B are set as follows: cutting knife: machine with 125 degrees/110 teeth, PENETT, Mitsubishi (MDI);
whetstone of grinding wheel: metal mixed adhesive;
feed rate of grinding: 6,800 mm/min;
rotation speed of grinding: 12,000 rpm.
As shown in Table 1 and Table 2, no matter machine A or machine B is used for cutting a touch substrate, the touch panel of an embodiment of the invention (a cutting process and a breaking process are performed on a first surface of the touch panel) significantly bears larger stress fracture than the touch panel of a comparison example (a cutting process and a breaking process are performed on a surface of the touch panel on which a sensing electrode layer is disposed). That is, according to the touch display device and the manufacturing method thereof of the invention, the cutting process is performed on a surface of the touch panel not having a sensing electrode layer, such that the touch panel has better compressive resistance and effectively avoids the touch panel 1 from being broken off and incapacitated when the user improperly applies a force on the touch panel.
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of the preferred embodiment (s), it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. On the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements and procedures, and the scope of the appended claims therefore should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements and procedures.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102140542 | Nov 2013 | TW | national |