SBIR Phase II: Low-cost polymer films for foldable cover lenses used in flexible displays

SBIR 第二阶段：用于柔性显示器的可折叠盖板透镜的低成本聚合物薄膜

• 批准号: 1853034
• 负责人: Adrian Avendano
• 金额: $ 75万
• 依托单位: Ares Materials, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-03-15 至 2022-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1853034&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; II; Low; cost

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to provide the $4B/year cover lens market an economically viable material for the upcoming form-factor it must address: foldable displays. While this market size currently represents displays that employ rigid LCD or OLED technologies, major handset manufacturers are looking to move to highly differentiated form-factors such as foldable phones to gain market share in the competitive flagship smartphone tier. To do so, the entire display module must be foldable and one of the last components to allow for this behavior is the cover lens. Foldable displays therefore must eliminate hard, brittle materials such as glass and utilize materials with the same excellent scratch-resistant properties of glass, but with the flexibility and durability under folding of polymers. This project develops a novel polysulfide thermoset for this application.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop the first low-cost, high-performance foldable cover lens technology using polysulfide thermosetting polymer films. Currently, the amorphous polysulfide thermosets can yield the excellent optical properties and folding durability required for application in foldable display technologies. However, these materials are as of yet unable to meet the strict hardness requirement set by manufacturers looking to replace rigid glass cover lenses. In this work, the expansion of the polysulfide thermoset family of materials will be undertaken to introduce chemical and physical modifications which allow for the resultant thermosetting films to possess the requisite hardness. The resultant resin materials will then be converted using standard wet-film extrusion and curing tools commonly found in the printing industry, allowing for cost-competitive production of the resulting films.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛影响是为每年40亿美元的覆盖镜头市场提供一种经济上可行的材料，用于即将到来的形式因素，它必须解决：可折叠显示器。虽然这一市场规模目前代表的是采用刚性LCD或OLED技术的显示器，但主要手机制造商正寻求转向高度差异化的外形因素，如可折叠手机，以在竞争激烈的旗舰智能手机层获得市场份额。要做到这一点，整个显示模块必须是可折叠的，最后一个允许这种行为的组件之一是覆盖镜头。因此，可折叠显示器必须消除坚硬、易碎的材料，如玻璃，并使用具有与玻璃相同的优异耐刮性能的材料，但具有聚合物折叠时的柔韧性和耐用性。本项目为这一应用开发了一种新型的聚硫热固性材料。这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目旨在开发第一个使用聚硫热固性聚合物薄膜的低成本、高性能可折叠覆盖镜头技术。目前，非晶聚硫热固性材料可以产生优异的光学性能和折叠耐久性，用于可折叠显示技术。然而，这些材料到目前为止还不能满足制造商所设定的严格的硬度要求，以取代坚硬的玻璃罩镜片。在这项工作中，将进行多硫化物热固性材料家族的扩展，以引入化学和物理改性，从而使所得的热固性薄膜具有所需的硬度。然后，所得树脂材料将使用印刷工业中常见的标准湿膜挤出和固化工具进行转换，从而使所得薄膜的生产具有成本竞争力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。