PFI-TT: Fabrication of color-shifting coatings containing reflective microstructures

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是设计、制造和评估在不同角度或不同照明条件下改变颜色的涂层的性能，以用于技术和美学用途。变色涂料具有广泛的商业应用，如安全、防伪、装饰涂料、化妆品、包装和广告。目前的变色涂层技术依赖于非常小的纳米结构，这种结构具有挑战性，生产成本也很高。目前的技术也几乎不提供对反射的特定颜色和这些颜色的反射角度的控制。使用更大微尺度结构的更可定制的变色涂层可能会增强安全特征的独特性，为自我表现提供新的途径，并降低成本。该项目的成功可能使微结构的设计能够创建定制的、所需的调色板，这些调色板可以通过可扩展的方法制造。这项拟议的技术还将被纳入宾夕法尼亚州立大学的一门创业创新课程，作为团队案例研究，为本科生提供实践经验，为一项新技术发明制定商业化计划。拟议的项目旨在利用光在微结构中多次反射时产生的颜色，用于涂层设计。现有的色移材料，如衍射栅或薄膜，通过使用周期性纳米结构来产生光学干涉。通过使用更大数量级且更容易在各种几何形状中制造的微结构，有机会更好地定制反射的颜色。该项目的目标包括大面积制造微结构阵列，生成可用于聚合物压印微结构的镍金属模具，评估热塑性聚合物压花和微结构薄膜生产的可伸缩方法，以及评估原型薄膜的光学性能，将其作为当前竞争对手涂层的基准。将寻求建立伙伴关系，以帮助制造业的可扩展性。客户发现将帮助评估商业潜力和目标市场应用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to design, fabricate, and evaluate the properties of coatings that change color when viewed at different angles or under different lighting conditions for technological and aesthetic use. Color-shifting coatings have commercial applications as diverse as security, anti-counterfeiting, decorative paints, cosmetics, packaging, and advertising. Current color-shifting coatings technologies rely on very small nanoscale structures, which are challenging and expensive to produce. Current technologies also provide little control over the specific colors reflected and the angles to which those colors are reflected. More customizable color-shifting coatings that use larger microscale structures may enhance the distinctiveness of security features, provide new avenues for self-expression, and reduce cost. Success of this project may enable the design of the microstructures to create customized, desired color palettes that can be fabricated by scalable methods. The proposed technology will also be incorporated into an entrepreneurial innovation course at Penn State as a team-based case study to provide undergraduates with hands-on experiences developing a commercialization plan for a new technological invention.The proposed project aims to exploit, for the purposes of coatings design, the color generation that occurs when light reflects multiple times within microstructures. Existing color-shifting materials, such as diffraction gratings or thin films, create optical interference through the use of periodic nanostructures. By using microstructures that are orders of magnitude larger and easier to fabricate in various geometries, there is an opportunity for greater customization of the reflected colors. Objectives of this project include the fabrication of microstructure arrays over large areas, generation of nickel metal molds that can be used for polymer imprinting of microstructures, evaluation of thermoplastic polymer embossing and scalable methods for microstructure film production, and evaluation of the prototype film optical properties as benchmarked against current competitor coatings. Partnerships to aid manufacturing scalability will be pursued. Customer discovery will be conducted to aid in evaluation of commercial potential and target market applications.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.