WO2006032492A1 - High speed manufacture of microstructures - Google Patents
High speed manufacture of microstructures Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2006032492A1 WO2006032492A1 PCT/EP2005/010245 EP2005010245W WO2006032492A1 WO 2006032492 A1 WO2006032492 A1 WO 2006032492A1 EP 2005010245 W EP2005010245 W EP 2005010245W WO 2006032492 A1 WO2006032492 A1 WO 2006032492A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- radiation curable
- surface relief
- radiation
- cylinder
- cationic
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C59/00—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor
- B29C59/02—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing
- B29C59/04—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing using rollers or endless belts
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C59/00—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor
- B29C59/005—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor characterised by the choice of material
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C35/00—Heating, cooling or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanising; Apparatus therefor
- B29C35/02—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould
- B29C35/08—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation
- B29C35/0805—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation using electromagnetic radiation
- B29C2035/0827—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation using electromagnetic radiation using UV radiation
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C59/00—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor
- B29C59/02—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing
- B29C59/022—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing characterised by the disposition or the configuration, e.g. dimensions, of the embossments or the shaping tools therefor
- B29C2059/023—Microembossing
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C35/00—Heating, cooling or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanising; Apparatus therefor
- B29C35/02—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould
- B29C35/08—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation
- B29C35/10—Heating or curing, e.g. crosslinking or vulcanizing during moulding, e.g. in a mould by wave energy or particle radiation for articles of indefinite length
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B29—WORKING OF PLASTICS; WORKING OF SUBSTANCES IN A PLASTIC STATE IN GENERAL
- B29C—SHAPING OR JOINING OF PLASTICS; SHAPING OF MATERIAL IN A PLASTIC STATE, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; AFTER-TREATMENT OF THE SHAPED PRODUCTS, e.g. REPAIRING
- B29C59/00—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor
- B29C59/02—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing
- B29C59/04—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing using rollers or endless belts
- B29C59/046—Surface shaping of articles, e.g. embossing; Apparatus therefor by mechanical means, e.g. pressing using rollers or endless belts for layered or coated substantially flat surfaces
Definitions
- the invention relates to an apparatus and method for the manufacture of surface relief microstructures e.g. holograms.
- a more recently developed method is that of in-situ polymerization replication (ISPR).
- ISPR in-situ polymerization replication
- a liquid polymer or resin usually deposited on a substrate such as a polymer film or web, is cast or molded against the microstructure to be replicated e.g. holographic image or optically variable effect profile, in a continuous fashion.
- the molded profile is retained in the polymer or resin on or after removal from the microstructure mold by use of a curing stage. Examples of this approach are described in United States Patent Nos. 3,689,346, 4,758,296, 4,840,757, 4,933,120, 5,003,915, 5,085,514 and in DE-A-4, 132,476, WO88/09252 and WO94/18609.
- the microstructure to be molded is provided as a relief in a metal surface on a rotary cylinder. They all utilize radiation curable media as the liquid polymer or resin media for casting and therefore this technology is sometimes referred to as UV
- the curing of the radiation curable media is achieved by the use of a UV source that is located within the bore of a hollow quartz cylinder that is carrying the microstructure relief image to be molded.
- the relief image is formed in a polymer sleeve that has been placed or cast on the outer surface of the quartz cylinder.
- the polymer sleeve is substantially transparent to the UV radiation that is used to cure the cast radiation curable resin.
- the microstructure relief image is cast on the cylinder using UV curable resin system.
- the thickness of the cast layer containing the surface relief microstructure is in the range from 3 ⁇ m up to 300 ⁇ m.
- the surface relief microstructure located on the quartz cylinder is a cured organic material it is relatively soft compared to the metal surfaces used in more conventional other ISPR processes.
- ISPR processes are attractive processes as they are web based and lend themselves to continuous/semi-continuous operations for bulk manufacture of surface relief structures.
- One of the enduring problems with web based processes is that there is always a limit to the speed at which the web can be processed and this limit usually manifests itself in the limit at which acceptable quality may be achieved or the limit of the casting technology used; this is usually the maximum curing speed for the radiation curing resin to be cast.
- UV curing technologies are known in the printing industry that can run at web speeds in excess of 100 meters per minute.
- Image quality is critically important in many applications as the resultant application relies upon good quality optical effects which are directly related to the quality of the transferred image respectively microstructure of the refraction grating.
- the present invention therefore provides for a process for the manufacture of a surface relief microstructure by ISPR, which process comprises contacting a cylinder comprising a surface relief microstructure derived from either a radical, cationic or combined radical/cationic radiation curable composition, with a radiation curable lacquer composition derived from either a radical, cationic or combined radical/cationic radiation curable composition, wherein the radiation curable composition of the lacquer is a different class of radiation curable composition than that used to manufacture the surface relief microstructure of the cylinder.
- the radiation curable lacquer is deposited on a web based substrate prior to contact with the cylinder comprising the surface relief microstructure.
- the radiation curable composition used for the manufacture of the cylinder surface and for the radiation curable lacquer will be a composition that is one of three types.
- the first are free radical polymerized or cured resin systems which are unsaturated resins or monomers, pre-polymers, oligomers etc that contain vinyl and/or acrylate unsaturation for example and which polymerize and/or cross-link through use of a photo initiator activated by the radiation source employed e.g. UV. These are typically referred to as radical systems.
- the second is cationic polymerizable or cured resins in which ring opening (e.g. epoxy rings) is effected using photoinitiators or catalysts which generate ionic entities under the radiation source employed e.g. UV.
- the ring opening is followed by cationic polymerization and/or intermolecular cross- linking.
- resins that contain one or more groups with vinyl unsaturation are typically referred to as cationic systems.
- the third type is a hybrid cured systems in which bothi free radical cured resins and cationic cured resins are combined. These systems are typically referred to as radical/cationic systems or combined systems.
- Typical resins useful in UV curable coatings are styrented polyesters and acrylics, such as vinyl copolymers of various monomers and glycidyl methacrylate reacted with acrylic acid, isocyanate prepolymers reacted with an hydroxyalkyl acrylate, epoxy resins reacted with acrylic or methacrylic acid, and hydroxyalkyl acrylate reacted with an anhydride and subsequently reacted with an epoxy.
- the radiation curable lacquer is a composition which comprises a radiation curable composition as described above diluted with a solvent. In a preferred embodiment the radiation curable lacquer comprises up to 60% by weight of solvent with the balance being radiation curable composition.
- the solvent may be any solvent that is compatible with the radiation curable composition and which may be removed after coating of the radiation curable lacquer on the substrate.
- the solvent is a material which is not designed to react with the radiation curable components on radiation curing.
- Lacquers comprising solvents have relatively low viscosities e.g. water viscosities at ambient temperature and on application to the web based substrate provide relatively thin smooth and almost mirror like lacquer surfaces. The thickness is typically 1 to 2.5 ⁇ m. This provides a perfect varnish surface for high quality and high efficient replication of microstructures especially very fine microstructures.
- the solvent is evaporated from the coated lacquer prior to contact with the cylinder comprising surface relief microstructures. This evaporation may be achieved through use of for example a hot air drying tunnel.
- solvent free lacquers may be used, which are approaching 100% reactive material.
- coating on the web based substrate is achieved using curtain coating techniques known in the art which enable coatings of controlled and relatively uniform thickness of from 1 to 80 ⁇ m to be achieved with a relatively smooth surface.
- the radiation used to effect curing of the radiation curable composition will typically be UV radiation, alternatively or in combination the radiation source could include electron beam, visible, infra-red or higher wavelength radiation, depending upon the material, its absorbance and the process used.
- the surface relief microstructure is manufactured on a hollow cylinder that is transparent to UV.
- the cylinder may be manufactured from any material that is substantially transparent to UV radiation.
- the cylinder may be manufactured from a polymer material or quartz. When quartz is used the cylinder may be manufactured from synthetic/ processed or natural quartz. Preferably the cylinder is manufactured from synthetic/processed quartz.
- the cylinder comprising the surface relief microstructure may be and preferably is manufactured by the general process as described in WO94/18069, the whole contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
- an original surface relief microstructure e.g. hologram is prepared by well-known means.
- an object is first recorded in a first hologram by standard off-axis recording techniques.
- a Benton hologram is then recorded from the first hologram onto a surface relief medium such as photoresist, thus producing the original surface relief hologram.
- the next step is the manufacture of the hologram master.
- a hologram master may be made by any of various techniques.
- One well-known way technique is to electroform nickel onto the original surface relief hologram, thereby producing a reversed metal replica of the original. This master may then be used to manufacture the microstructure relief surface using the general process as described in WO94/18069.
- the cylinder comprising a surface relief microstructure for ISPR, which comprises in the cured state a radiation curable medium comprising one or more silicone compounds that have been incorporated by co-polymerization or cross-linking into the cured medium, may be used as the microstructure relief surface for any ISPR process such as those described in United States Patent Nos. 3,689,346, 4,758,296, 4,840,757, 4,906,315 4,933,120, 5,003,915, 5,085,514 6,214,443 6,344,245 6,436,483 and in DE-A-4, 132,476, EP
- the key aspect of the present invention is that in the process of the present invention the chemistry of the radiation cured coating used to manufacture the surface relief microstructure is selected to be a different chemistry from that used as the formulation for the> radiation curable lacquer which is to be imaged with the printing cylinder.
- the chemistry of the radiation cured coating used to manufacture the surface relief microstructure is selected to be a different chemistry from that used as the formulation for the> radiation curable lacquer which is to be imaged with the printing cylinder.
- Trie same relationship is found when the cylinder image is manufactured from a cationic system and the lacquer is a free-radical acrylate based system. In either situation the formulation may be replaced by a hybrid formulation in combination with a free- radical system or a cationic system.
- the methods disclosed herein are primarily directed toward replication of microstructure surface relief patterns , it is clear that the methods are also useful for replication of any kind of surface relief pattern.
- surface relief microstructure is used to mean holograms, diffractive patterns and any structure that may provide an optical effect.
- the term also encompasses structures at the nanometer to micrometer scale that are not designed to provide optical effects.
Abstract
Description
Claims
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB0421175.1 | 2004-09-23 | ||
GB0421175A GB0421175D0 (en) | 2004-09-23 | 2004-09-23 | High speed manufacture of microstructures |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2006032492A1 true WO2006032492A1 (en) | 2006-03-30 |
Family
ID=33397139
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2005/010245 WO2006032492A1 (en) | 2004-09-23 | 2005-09-20 | High speed manufacture of microstructures |
Country Status (2)
Country | Link |
---|---|
GB (1) | GB0421175D0 (en) |
WO (1) | WO2006032492A1 (en) |
Citations (10)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3794576A (en) | 1971-05-18 | 1974-02-26 | American Can Co | Epoxide blend radiation sensitive catalyst precursor |
US4058401A (en) | 1974-05-02 | 1977-11-15 | General Electric Company | Photocurable compositions containing group via aromatic onium salts |
US4069055A (en) | 1974-05-02 | 1978-01-17 | General Electric Company | Photocurable epoxy compositions containing group Va onium salts |
WO1991001225A1 (en) * | 1989-07-19 | 1991-02-07 | Embossing Technology Ltd. (U.K.) | Embossing machine roller |
US5003915A (en) | 1988-04-18 | 1991-04-02 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Apparatus for printing and for forming a hologram on sheet material |
US5085514A (en) | 1989-08-29 | 1992-02-04 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Technique of forming a separate information bearing printed pattern on replicas of a hologram or other surface relief diffraction pattern |
US5702846A (en) * | 1994-10-03 | 1997-12-30 | Nippon Paint Co. Ltd. | Photosensitive composition for volume hologram recording |
US6214443B1 (en) | 1998-06-15 | 2001-04-10 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Tamper evident holographic devices and methods of manufacture |
US6344245B1 (en) | 1998-01-29 | 2002-02-05 | De La Rue International Limited | Security device manufacture |
US20030129385A1 (en) * | 2001-06-28 | 2003-07-10 | Mikiko Hojo | Photocurable resin composition, finely embossed pattern-forming sheet, finely embossed pattern transfer sheet, optical article, stamper and method of forming finely embossed pattern |
-
2004
- 2004-09-23 GB GB0421175A patent/GB0421175D0/en not_active Ceased
-
2005
- 2005-09-20 WO PCT/EP2005/010245 patent/WO2006032492A1/en active Application Filing
Patent Citations (11)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3794576A (en) | 1971-05-18 | 1974-02-26 | American Can Co | Epoxide blend radiation sensitive catalyst precursor |
US4058401A (en) | 1974-05-02 | 1977-11-15 | General Electric Company | Photocurable compositions containing group via aromatic onium salts |
US4069055A (en) | 1974-05-02 | 1978-01-17 | General Electric Company | Photocurable epoxy compositions containing group Va onium salts |
US5003915A (en) | 1988-04-18 | 1991-04-02 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Apparatus for printing and for forming a hologram on sheet material |
WO1991001225A1 (en) * | 1989-07-19 | 1991-02-07 | Embossing Technology Ltd. (U.K.) | Embossing machine roller |
US5085514A (en) | 1989-08-29 | 1992-02-04 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Technique of forming a separate information bearing printed pattern on replicas of a hologram or other surface relief diffraction pattern |
US5702846A (en) * | 1994-10-03 | 1997-12-30 | Nippon Paint Co. Ltd. | Photosensitive composition for volume hologram recording |
US6344245B1 (en) | 1998-01-29 | 2002-02-05 | De La Rue International Limited | Security device manufacture |
US6214443B1 (en) | 1998-06-15 | 2001-04-10 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Tamper evident holographic devices and methods of manufacture |
US6436483B2 (en) | 1998-06-15 | 2002-08-20 | American Bank Note Holographics, Inc. | Method of manufacturing tamper evident holographic devices |
US20030129385A1 (en) * | 2001-06-28 | 2003-07-10 | Mikiko Hojo | Photocurable resin composition, finely embossed pattern-forming sheet, finely embossed pattern transfer sheet, optical article, stamper and method of forming finely embossed pattern |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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GB0421175D0 (en) | 2004-10-27 |
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