UV Curable Embossing Lacquers

Key to many of Microsharp's new optical film developments is its capability to develop and optimize UV curable lacquers for UV cast roll-to-roll manufacturing of surface relief optical films. In order to enable such optical films to meet customer requirements, many aspects have to be optimised, including:

• Transparency
• Temperature resistance
• Refractive index
• Profile
• Adhesion to base film
• Antistatic properties

As an example, motivated by the needs of a technology partner in the Far East, Microsharp has developed, tested and released an antistatic UV curable embossing lacquer, which is now being used in large scale production.

Microsharp is often able to work with clients to either develop completely new lacquers meeting a required specification, or take an existing lacquer and modify it to meet requirements that were previously unachievable.

If you wish to purchase Microsharp lacquers please contact us for a quote. Microsharp will cooperate to develop new UV curable lacquers meeting your requirements.

High refractive index lacquers

High refractive index polymers can be defined as those with a refractive index above 1.55. Microsharp has developed and filed patents for a set of UV curable lacquer compositions, which cover the refractive index range from 1.55 to 1.61. In accordance with the application, an optical film is generally required to have a specific refractive index. For example, a given light redirecting film will only redirect light through the desired angle if the refractive index of the material is within a narrow range of values.

Microsharp has filed patent GB04/000667 dated 21 February 2003, international filing dated 20 February 2004, covering its high refractive index UV curable lacquers.

Antistatic UV curing embossing lacquers

Static charge accumulating on the surface of an optical film attracts dust and also causes difficulty in handling. Most optical films suffer from this problem to a greater or lesser extent: generally, reduction in the surface charge is a desired outcome and is often an absolute condition for product acceptance by displays manufacturers. The antistatic property is typically characterized by the surface resistivity value. A new antistatic UV acrylate lacquer has been developed by MCL for a roll-to-roll UV curable process and the surface resistivity is in the range of 1 x 10¹⁰- 1 x 10¹¹ Ω/square, ASTM D-257 (50% R.H.).