Housing, manufacturing method thereof, and electronic device

Abstract

The present application discloses a housing, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device. The housing includes a substrate and at least one liquid crystal optical film. At least one liquid crystal optical film is disposed on the substrate, contains aligned liquid crystals, and has a microstructure texture on its surface. By the above method, the present application can enrich the presentation effect of the housing, enhance the aesthetic feeling of the housing, and meet the user's usage requirements.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of housings, and particularly to a housing, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device. Background Art

[0002] Due to requirements in aspects such as appearance and functions, many production and living tools, such as electronic devices and household appliances, have housings.

[0003] However, with the development of technology, housings with a single presentation effect can no longer meet the growing needs of users. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The main technical problem to be solved by the present application is to provide a housing, a manufacturing method thereof, and an electronic device, which can enrich the presentation effect of the housing, enhance the aesthetic feeling of the housing, and meet the usage requirements of users.

[0005] To solve the above technical problem, one technical solution adopted by the present application is: to provide a housing, the housing includes a substrate and at least one liquid crystal optical film; the at least one liquid crystal optical film is disposed on the substrate, and contains aligned liquid crystals, and has a microstructure texture on the surface.

[0006] To solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is: to provide a manufacturing method of a housing, the manufacturing method includes: providing a substrate; forming a liquid crystal optical film on the substrate, wherein the liquid crystal optical film contains aligned liquid crystals, and has a microstructure texture on the surface.

[0007] To solve the above technical problem, another technical solution adopted by the present application is: to provide an electronic device, including a housing and functional devices, wherein the housing defines an accommodation space; the functional devices are accommodated in the accommodation space; wherein, the housing is the housing as described above or the housing manufactured by the manufacturing method as described above.

[0008] The beneficial effect of the present application is: different from the prior art, the housing of the present application includes a substrate and at least one liquid crystal optical film, the liquid crystal optical film is disposed on the substrate and contains aligned liquid crystals, and has a microstructure texture on the surface, so that at least part of the incident light can generate structural color under the action of the microstructure texture and has a texture effect, thereby being able to enrich the presentation effect of the housing, enhance the aesthetic feeling of the housing, and meet the usage requirements of users. Description of the Drawings

[0009] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the following will briefly introduce the drawings required for the description of the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present application. For those of ordinary skill in the art, without creative efforts, other drawings can also be obtained based on these drawings. Among them:

[0010] Figure 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an electronic device of the present application;

[0011] Figure 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0012] Figure 3 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a manufacturing method of a housing of the present application;

[0013] Figure 4 is Figure 3 a flowchart of step S20 in;

[0014] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a scenario of forming a liquid crystal optical film on a substrate in an embodiment of a manufacturing method of a housing of the present application;

[0015] Figure 6 is Figure 3 a flowchart of step S20 in;

[0016] Figure 7 is a flowchart of a scenario of forming a liquid crystal optical film on a substrate in an embodiment of a manufacturing method of a housing of the present application;

[0017] Figure 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a texture layer in an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0018] Figure 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a texture layer in an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0019] Figure 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a texture layer in an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0020] Figure 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a texture layer in an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0021] Figure 12 is a top view schematic diagram of a texture layer in an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0022] Figure 13 is a schematic structural diagram of a texture layer in an embodiment of a housing of the present application;

[0023] Figure 14 is Figure 13 an enlarged view of part A in;

[0024] Figure 15 It is a top view schematic diagram of the texture layer in an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0025] Figure 16 It is a structural schematic diagram of the liquid crystal optical film in an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0026] Figure 17 It is a top view schematic diagram of the liquid crystal optical film in an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0027] Figure 18 It is a structural schematic diagram of the liquid crystal optical film in an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0028] Figure 19 It is Figure 18 an enlarged view of part B in;

[0029] Figure 20 It is a top view schematic diagram of the liquid crystal optical film in an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0030] Figure 21 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0031] Figure 22 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0032] Figure 23 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0033] Figure 24 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0034] Figure 25 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0035] Figure 26 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application;

[0036] Figure 27 It is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the housing of the present application. Detailed implementation manners

[0037] Next, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be clearly and completely described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present application, rather than all the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present application without creative efforts shall fall within the protection scope of the present application.

[0038] Before introducing the present application, the related technologies of the present application will be briefly introduced.

[0039] Vacuum coating is a commonly used structure in the housing of electronic devices. A nano-film layer with alternating refractive indices can be deposited on the surface of a resin texture layer with optical texture to produce structural color. The optical coating deposited in this way has both structural color and optical texture effects, and can present a bright, colorful and three-dimensional metallic luster, thereby enhancing the expressiveness of the housing.

[0040] However, optical coatings usually use metal oxides as film-forming materials, such as Nb2O5, SiO2, TiO2, etc. These materials are all brittle materials with poor toughness and are difficult to withstand large deformations. The thermal expansion coefficient of the board used as the housing substrate is usually much larger than that of the coating material. Therefore, when the housing expands due to heat, it is easy to cause the optical coating to crack. In order to reduce the occurrence of optical coating cracking, the cracking possibility can be reduced by restricting the thickness of the optical coating, so that the thickness of the optical coating is restricted within dozens of nanometers to hundreds of nanometers, which will greatly weaken its presentation effect.

[0041] Moreover, optical coatings have high requirements for the environment and equipment. Special optical coating equipment is required to coat films in a high-vacuum environment. Therefore, the cost of coating is high, which increases the cost of housing production.

[0042] In addition, optical coatings usually consist of several layers of nano-scale thin films. The change in the thickness of each layer will affect the color presented by the optical film. The film thickness is affected by many factors such as the machine, the placement position of the substrate, the air pressure, the deposition rate, and the deposition time. Therefore, color difference is difficult to control.

[0043] Accordingly, the present application provides an electronic device. Please refer to Figure 1 , in one embodiment, the electronic device includes a housing 100 and a functional device 200. Among them, the housing 100 defines an accommodation space, which can be specifically defined by the housing 100 and the screen of the electronic device. The functional device 200 is disposed in the accommodation space, and the housing 100 can play a role in protecting the functional device 200 (for example, the main board, battery, etc.).

[0044] Specifically, the electronic device can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a smart bracelet, a smart watch, etc. The housing 100 can be the front shell, the frame, the back cover, etc. of the electronic device, which is not limited here.

[0045] Please refer to Figure 2 , in one embodiment, the housing 100 may include a substrate 10 and a liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0046] Among them, the material of the substrate 10 can be glass, plastic, or a composite material of glass, plastic, metal, ceramic, etc. Among them, when the material of the substrate 10 is plastic, it can be a composite board of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC). Specifically, PC and PMMA plastic particles can be co-extruded to form a composite board of a PC layer and a PMMA layer.

[0047] The number of the liquid crystal optical films 20 can be one layer, two layers or multiple layers. Among them, when the number is two layers or more, the liquid crystal optical films 20 can be spaced apart from each other, and the liquid crystal optical films 20 can be disposed on the same side of the substrate 10, or respectively disposed on both sides of the substrate 10.

[0048] Among them, the liquid crystal optical film 20 contains aligned liquid crystals. On the one hand, the incident light entering the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be at least partially reflected by the aligned liquid crystals, thereby improving the overall brightness and gloss of the housing 100; on the other hand, the aligned liquid crystals present a certain main color after reflecting the light, and the wavelength of the reflected light changes with the incident angle of the incident light. Therefore, when the viewing angle of the user is different, the color presented by the liquid crystal optical film 20 observed will undergo a red shift or a blue shift with the change of the viewing angle, so that the overall housing 100 has a colorful effect.

[0049] Among them, the main color can refer to the color presented by the liquid crystal optical film 20 when the user observes from a certain fixed angle, such as perpendicular to the light incident surface of the corresponding liquid crystal optical film 20. In an application scenario, when the viewing angle of the user changes, the color presented by the liquid crystal optical film 20 can change based on the main color.

[0050] Specifically, the above liquid crystal can be a cholesteric liquid crystal. Cholesteric liquid crystal molecules are flat-shaped and can be arranged in a layered structure parallel to each other by the interaction of end groups. In each plane layer, the long axes of the molecules are parallel to each other, which is similar to a nematic liquid crystal. The long axes of the molecules gradually deflect between layers, forming a helix.

[0051] It should be noted that in this embodiment, the wavelength of the reflected light reflected by the above aligned liquid crystals satisfies the following formula: λ = 2np sinθ, where λ is the wavelength of the reflected light, n is the average refractive index of the aligned liquid crystals, p is the pitch of the aligned liquid crystals, and θ is the angle between the incident light and the surface of the liquid crystal optical coating, that is, the complementary angle of the incident angle of the incident light. Among them, the aligned liquid crystals can be arranged according to the corresponding pitch p.

[0052] Since the pitch (p) of the cholesteric liquid crystal is related to the helical twisting power (HTP) of the chiral molecules, when the concentration of the chiral molecules is c, the pitch p satisfies p = 1 / HTP * c. Further combining with the above formula for the reflection wavelength λ = 2np sinθ, it can be known that the reflection wavelength of the chiral liquid crystal can be adjusted by adjusting the concentration of the chiral molecules during the production process of the housing 100 to meet the needs of users.

[0053] Further, when the viewing angle of the user is perpendicular to the surface of the liquid crystal optical coating, that is, when θ is 90°, the liquid crystal after alignment selectively reflects light with a wavelength of λ = 2np, thus presenting the color presented by the light with a wavelength of λ = 2np, that is, the main color presented by the aligned liquid crystal. As the viewing angle of the user changes, the incident angle of the incident light entering the user's eyes changes, θ changes, resulting in a corresponding change in the wavelength λ of the reflected light reflected by the liquid crystal, thereby changing the color of the reflected light. Therefore, when the viewing angle of the user changes, the color presented by the liquid crystal optical coating observed will redshift or blueshift with the change of the viewing angle, thus generating a change with the viewing angle, making the housing 100 present a colorful effect.

[0054] It should be noted that the liquid crystal optical film 20 in this embodiment may have a microstructure texture 21. Among them, the microstructure texture 21 may be located on the surface of the liquid crystal optical film 20, specifically on the side of the liquid crystal optical film 20 away from the substrate 10, such as Figure 2 shown; in other embodiments, the microstructure texture 21 may also be located on the side of the liquid crystal optical film 20 facing the substrate 10.

[0055] Specifically, the above microstructure texture 21 may be a texture at the micron or nanometer level.

[0056] In this embodiment, the aligned liquid crystal further cooperates with the microstructure texture 21, enabling the light entering the liquid crystal optical film 20 to interfere under the action of the microstructure texture 21 to generate structural color, thereby realizing the combination of the texture and the structural color, enabling the housing 100 to have a three-dimensional metallic luster, and further enriching the effects that the housing 100 can present and improving the aesthetic feeling of the housing 100.

[0057] In addition, compared with the aforementioned solution using an optical coating in combination with the texture layer 30, in the solution of the present application that uses the liquid crystal optical film 20 with the microstructural texture 21, vacuum coating is not required. Moreover, since the material of the liquid crystal optical film 20 is an organic material, it has higher toughness compared to vacuum coating, thereby reducing the probability of cracking and improving the reliability of the housing 100. Also, since vacuum coating is not required, processing by vacuum coating equipment is not needed, and harsh processing conditions such as high vacuum are not required, thereby reducing the processing difficulty and the cost of manufacturing the housing 100. Further, the liquid crystal optical film 20 forms a layered structure through self-assembly to generate structural color. Compared with the aforementioned optical coating solution, it is not necessary to control the thickness layer by layer, and the color difference is easy to control, thereby being able to improve the consistency of the appearance of the housing 100.

[0058] In one embodiment, the microstructural texture 21 may have a preset shape, and the orientation of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal optical film 20 may correspond to the preset shape. Specifically, it can be understood that the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal optical film 20 is oriented under the influence of the shape of the microstructural texture 21, or the formation of the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal optical film 20 and the shape of the microstructural texture 21 are affected by the same action, so that the orientation of the liquid crystal is consistent with the shape of the microstructural texture 21.

[0059] Specifically, please further refer to Figure 3 , when manufacturing the housing 100, the following steps may be included:

[0060] Step S10: Provide a substrate 10;

[0061] Step S20: Form a liquid crystal optical film 20 on the substrate 10.

[0062] Among them, the method of forming the liquid crystal optical film 20 on the substrate 10 in step S20 can be various, as long as it can satisfy that the orientation of the liquid crystal in the formed liquid crystal optical film 20 corresponds to the shape of the microstructural texture 21. For ease of understanding, two implementation methods are mainly introduced below.

[0063] Please refer to Figure 4 and 5 , in one way, the microstructural texture 21 of the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be formed by texture imprinting. Specifically, step S20 may include:

[0064] Step S21: Provide a liquid crystal coating solution and a texture mold 500.

[0065] Among them, the liquid crystal coating solution may include liquid crystal monomers, chiral molecules, photoinitiators, etc. In some application scenarios, the liquid crystal coating solution may also include a solvent.

[0066] Specifically, the liquid crystal monomers can be biphenyl-based, diphenyl ester-based, stilbene-based, etc. The liquid crystal monomers selected in the liquid crystal coating solution can be a single type of liquid crystal monomer, or a mixture of two or more types of liquid crystal monomers. Further, the liquid crystal monomers can be modified with acrylate to facilitate subsequent film formation by polymerization. Among them, the purity of the liquid crystal monomers can be not less than 99%, such as 99%, 99.2%, 99.4%, 99.6%, etc., and no specific limitation is made here.

[0067] The chiral molecules can be at least one of central chirality type, axial chirality type, planar chirality type, etc., such as at least one of binaphthyl, helicene, p-cyclophane and corresponding derivatives, etc. For the stability of the system, the chiral molecules can also be modified so that they can participate in the polymerization reaction to facilitate subsequent film formation of the liquid crystal coating solution. Specifically, acrylate modification, epoxy modification, etc. can be carried out, and no limitation is made here. In addition, for easy color adjustment, chiral molecules with as high solubility as possible in the liquid crystal and as large helical twisting power as possible can be selected so that the reflection wavelength of the finally formed liquid crystal can reach the short-wavelength blue light region. In addition, for the chiral molecules selected in this embodiment, the change in the helical twisting power in the liquid crystal with temperature should be small. Specifically, it can be not greater than 0.2% / °C, such as 0.2% / °C, 0.18% / °C, 0.16% / °C, etc. In addition, the purity of the chiral molecules can be not less than 99%, such as 99%, 99.2%, 99.4%, 99.6%, etc., and no specific limitation is made here.

[0068] Further, the photoinitiator, that is, the photocuring agent, can be used to initiate the polymerization cross-linking curing of the monomers under the action of ultraviolet light during subsequent ultraviolet light irradiation, thereby forming a liquid crystal optical film. Specifically, at least one of diphenyl-(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (photoinitiator TPO), 1-hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone (photoinitiator 184), 2-isopropylthioxanthone (photoinitiator ITX), 2-methyl-1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-2-morpholin-1-propanone (photoinitiator 907), α-hydroxyisobutyrophenone (photoinitiator 1173), benzoin diethyl ether (photoinitiator BDK), etc. can be selected, and no limitation is made here.

[0069] The solvent can be at least one of ethanol, ethyl acetate, acetone, cyclohexanone, etc.

[0070] In addition, in some application scenarios, the above-mentioned cholesteric liquid crystal can also include ultraviolet light absorbers, etc., which can be specifically selected according to actual needs.

[0071] In this embodiment, the liquid crystal monomers, chiral molecules, and photoinitiator can be first mixed in a mass ratio of 93:5:2, and fully stirred to prepare a uniform liquid crystal mixture. Of course, the mass ratio of the liquid crystal monomers, chiral molecules, and photoinitiator is not limited in this embodiment.

[0072] It should be noted that in an application scenario, the liquid crystal mixture contains a solvent, and the configured liquid crystal mixture can be directly used as a liquid crystal coating solution.

[0073] In another application scenario, the liquid crystal mixture does not contain a solvent, but it exhibits a liquid crystal phase at room temperature. At this time, the liquid crystal mixture can also be directly used as a liquid crystal coating solution.

[0074] In still another application scenario, the liquid crystal mixture does not contain a solvent, and its liquid crystal phase range is higher than room temperature. At this time, the liquid crystal mixture is often a solid powder, and the liquid crystal mixture needs to be heated to the liquid crystal phase range before it can be used as a liquid crystal coating solution. For example, it can be heated through the heating function of the transfer head and the glue supply system. Specifically, the liquid crystal mixture can be placed in a glue pot at 70 °C, and after melting into a liquid, it can be used, and the temperature of the transfer base for texture transfer can be set to 80 °C for standby.

[0075] Furthermore, the texture mold 500 selected in this embodiment can have a certain texture pattern, and this texture pattern corresponds to the microstructure texture 21 of the aforementioned liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0076] Step S22: Coat the liquid crystal coating solution on the substrate 10 to form a liquid crystal coating layer 20'.

[0077] In this embodiment, the liquid crystal coating layer 20' can be formed on the substrate 10 by means of coating, dropping, printing the liquid crystal coating solution, etc. Of course, it is not limited here whether it is directly formed on the substrate 10 or directly formed on other structural layers of the laminated structure including the substrate 10.

[0078] Step S23: Use the texture mold 500 to imprint the liquid crystal coating layer 20' so that the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal coating layer 20' are oriented according to the shape of the texture pattern.

[0079] In this embodiment, the texture pattern of the texture mold 500 is a micron-level or nano-level pattern, and specifically, it can be a periodic arrangement of alternating concave and convex.

[0080] After forming the above-mentioned liquid crystal coating layer 20', the texture mold 500 can be covered on one side of the liquid crystal coating layer 20', and the liquid crystal coating solution can be evenly distributed between the texture mold 500 and the substrate 10 by rolling and maintained for a certain period of time, such as 1 minute, so that the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal coating solution are restricted by the geometric shape of the texture mold 500 and are directly oriented according to the geometric shape of the texture pattern, thus eliminating the need to further orient the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal coating layer 20' by other means.

[0081] Among them, the thickness of the liquid crystal coating layer 20' can be adjusted by controlling the rolling pressure.

[0082] Step S24: Curing the imprinted liquid crystal coating layer 20' to obtain the liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0083] Specifically, ultraviolet light can be used to irradiate the liquid crystal coating layer 20' to cure the liquid crystal coating layer 20'. Among them, the ultraviolet curing energy can be 200 - 2000 mj / cm 2 , specifically such as 200 mj / cm 2 , 500 mj / cm 2 , 1000 mj / cm 2 , 1500 mj / cm 2 , 2000 mj / cm 2 etc.

[0084] It should be noted that the above ultraviolet light irradiation treatment is carried out without removing the texture mold 500, and after the liquid crystal coating layer 20' is cured to form the liquid crystal optical film 20, the texture mold 500 can be removed.

[0085] In addition, the degree of curing of the obtained liquid crystal optical film 20 characterized by infrared spectroscopy is not less than 85%, such as 85%, 87%, 89%, etc.

[0086] Please refer to Figure 6 and 7 , in another way, the microstructural texture 21 of the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be formed by forming it on a structural layer with a corresponding pattern. Specifically, step S20 may include:

[0087] Step S25: Forming a texture layer 30 on the substrate 10.

[0088] In this embodiment, forming the texture layer 30 on the substrate 10 does not limit whether it is directly formed on the substrate 10 or on other structural layers of the laminated structure including the substrate 10.

[0089] Among them, the texture layer 30 can be formed by optical texture transfer. Here, taking the example of directly forming the texture layer 30 on the substrate 10 for description.

[0090] Specifically, the substrate 10 can be placed on the transfer machine table, and ultraviolet curable glue is dropped on the surface of the substrate 10. Among them, the ultraviolet curable water can be polyester, polyurethane, etc. Then cover the texture film with a preset pattern and roll it to make the ultraviolet curable glue evenly distributed between the texture mold 500 and the substrate 10. Then irradiate with ultraviolet light to cure the ultraviolet curable glue, and then remove the texture film, thereby obtaining the texture layer 30 with a certain texture pattern.

[0091] Among them, the energy of ultraviolet light irradiation can be 500-2000 mj / cm 2 , specifically such as 500 mj / cm 2 , 1000 mj / cm 2 , 1500 mj / cm 2 , 2000 mj / cm 2 and so on.

[0092] It should be noted that the texture pattern of the texture layer 30 corresponds to the microstructure texture 21 required by the liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0093] Step S26: Coat a liquid crystal coating solution on the texture layer 30 so that the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal coating layer 20' are aligned according to the shape of the texture pattern, and form the liquid crystal coating layer 20'.

[0094] In this embodiment, the liquid crystal coating layer 20' can be formed on the substrate 10 by spraying, pouring, dropping, screen printing, offset printing the liquid crystal coating solution and other methods.

[0095] Specifically, it can be by screen printing, for example, using a screen with 200-1000 meshes, specifically a 300-mesh screen to coat the liquid crystal coating solution on the substrate 10 to form the liquid crystal coating layer 20'. Of course, other coating methods can also be used, such as pouring, etc., which are not specifically limited here.

[0096] Among them, the thickness of the finally formed liquid crystal optical film 20 can be adjusted by the concentration of the liquid crystal coating solution and the mesh number of the screen during screen printing.

[0097] The components of the liquid crystal coating solution in this embodiment include a solvent. Specifically, liquid crystal monomers, chiral molecules, and photoinitiators can be added to the solvent in a mass ratio of 93:5:2, and fully stirred to prepare a transparent solution with a solid content of 10%-100%. After filtering through a 2000-mesh filter, the liquid crystal coating solution can be obtained. Of course, the mass ratio of the liquid crystal monomers, chiral molecules, and photoinitiators, as well as the mesh number of the filter, are not limited in this embodiment. Other solutions can also be adopted in other embodiments.

[0098] In addition, in actual production, the color difference control of the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be achieved by controlling the addition amount of chiral molecules and the curing temperature, so that the reflection wavelength shift is controlled within ±5 nm, and the reflectance change can be controlled within ±2%, thereby improving the appearance consistency of the housing 100.

[0099] Further, it should be noted that the texture pattern 31 of the texture layer 30 formed in step S25 is a micron-level or nano-level pattern, which can specifically be arranged in a periodic pattern with alternating concavities and convexities. When a liquid crystal coating solution is coated on one side of the texture pattern 31 of the texture layer 30, the liquid crystal can be directly oriented according to the geometric shape of the texture pattern 31, so that there is no need to further orient the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal coating layer 20' by other means.

[0100] Step S27: Cure the liquid crystal coating layer 20' to form a liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0101] Specifically, the liquid crystal coating layer 20' can be placed in a tunnel furnace and baked at 50 - 100 °C for 3 - 10 minutes until the solvent is completely volatilized. Among them, the baking temperature can be adjusted according to specific requirements. To maintain color consistency, the temperature fluctuation can be controlled within ±5 °C.

[0102] After the baking treatment, it can be further irradiated with a high-pressure mercury lamp at the rear of the tunnel furnace for curing into a film, so as to transfer the texture pattern 31 on the texture mold 500 to the liquid crystal optical film 20. Among them, the curing energy can be 200 - 2000 mj / cm 2 , specifically such as 200 mj / cm 2 , 500 mj / cm 2 , 1000 mj / cm 2 , 1500 mj / cm 2 , 2000 mj / cm 2 etc. Among them, during the irradiation of the mercury lamp, nitrogen protection can be used. In this way, the surface polymerization degree of the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be improved, and the performance of the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be enhanced. After curing is completed, the curing degree of the liquid crystal optical film 20 characterized by infrared spectroscopy can be not less than 85%, such as 85%, 87%, 89%, etc.

[0103] It should be noted that the above-mentioned baking treatment and mercury lamp irradiation treatment are both carried out with the texture mold 500 not removed. After the liquid crystal coating layer 20' is cured to form the liquid crystal optical film 20, the texture mold 500 can be removed.

[0104] The curing treatment of the liquid crystal coating layer 20' in this embodiment also includes first performing a baking treatment in a tunnel furnace and then performing mercury lamp irradiation. The specific method can be the same as the step of curing the liquid crystal coating layer 20' in the formation method of the liquid crystal optical film 20 described above. For relevant detailed content, please refer to the foregoing method and will not be elaborated here.

[0105] For the above two methods of forming the liquid crystal optical film 20, the texture pattern 31 of the texture mold 500 and the texture pattern 31 of the texture layer 30 can be consistent and both correspond to the microstructure texture 21 of the liquid crystal optical film 20. Among them, the specific shape of the texture pattern 31 can be various as long as it can orient the liquid crystal in the liquid crystal coating layer 20'. Here, two shapes will be introduced by taking the texture pattern 31 of the texture layer 30 as an example.

[0106] In one shape, please refer to Figure 8 , the texture pattern 31 can be arranged in a periodic pattern with alternating concave and convex. Among them, the periodic arrangement refers to the concave and convex period with alternating concave and convex. In this embodiment, it is not limited that the shapes and sizes of each concave and convex period are exactly the same. The shapes and sizes corresponding to each concave and convex period can be the same or different. For example, the concave and convex period can be uniform, regularly changing or randomly changing; and the height of the convex can also be uniform, regularly changing or randomly changing, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0107] Specifically, the length a1 of the concave and convex period can be 0.1 - 50 μm, specifically 0.1 μm, 1 μm, 10 μm, 30 μm, 50 μm, etc. Further, the length a1 of the concave and convex period can also be 0.5 - 20 μm, specifically 0.5 μm, 5 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc., and no specific limitation is made here.

[0108] Further, the texture pattern 31 can include a plurality of texture protrusions 311. Among them, the height b1 of the texture protrusion 311 can be 0.01 - 20 μm, specifically 0.01 μm, 0.1 μm, 1 μm, 5 μm, 10 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc. Further, the height b1 of the texture protrusion 311 can also be 0.1 - 10 μm, specifically 0.5 μm, 2 μm, 4 μm, 6 μm, 8 μm, etc.

[0109] It should be noted that the above concave and convex period a1 and the height b1 of the texture protrusion 311 should not be too large or too small. When they are too small, it is difficult to ensure the texture accuracy, and when they are too large, the orientation effect on the liquid crystal molecules becomes poor, and it is easy to cause a large haze of the finally formed liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0110] Further, the width c1 of the bottom of the texture protrusion 311 can account for 10% - 100% of the corresponding concave and convex period length a1, specifically 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 90%, 100%, etc. The angle θ1 between the tangent plane α at any point on the surface of the texture protrusion 311 and the surface of the substrate 10 can be 1 - 90°, specifically 1°, 5°, 10°, 30°, 50°, 70°, 90°, etc.

[0111] In this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the texture pattern 31 can be a plurality of interconnected zigzags, such as Figure 8 shown, and can also be at least one of a plurality of interconnected squares, trapezoids, arcs, etc. respectively as shown in Figure 9 , 10 , 11, etc. No specific limitation is made here.

[0112] Specifically, the cross-sectional shape of the texture pattern 31 here can refer to the cross-sectional shape of the texture pattern 31 in the radial direction, that is, perpendicular to the length extension direction of the texture pattern 31.

[0113] It should be noted that the shapes and sizes of each texture protrusion 311 in the texture pattern 31 can be the same or different, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0114] Furthermore, please refer to Figure 12 , the ratio of the length d1 of each texture protrusion 311 to the uneven cycle length a1 corresponding to the texture protrusion 311 can be not less than 4, specifically such as 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. Among them, the length d1 of the texture protrusion 311 refers to the length of the texture protrusion 311 in its extension direction.

[0115] When the ratio of the length d1 of the texture protrusion 311 to the uneven cycle length a1 corresponding to it is not less than 4, the texture pattern 31 can have sufficient anisotropy, so that the liquid crystal can be guided to be arranged according to its shape.

[0116] In another shape, please refer to Figure 13 and Figure 14 , the texture pattern 31 includes a primary texture pattern 32 and a secondary texture pattern 33. Among them, both the primary texture pattern 32 and the secondary texture pattern 33 are arranged in a periodic pattern of alternating concavities and convexities, and the secondary texture pattern 33 is formed on the primary texture pattern 32.

[0117] Similar to the previous method, the periodic arrangement refers to the uneven cycle of alternating concavities and convexities. In this embodiment, it is not limited that the shapes and sizes of each uneven cycle of the primary texture pattern 32 and the secondary texture pattern 33 are exactly the same, and the shapes and sizes corresponding to each uneven cycle can be the same or different.

[0118] Specifically, the uneven cycle length a2 of the primary texture pattern 32 can be 40 - 80 μm, specifically such as 40 μm, 50 μm, 60 μm, 70 μm, 80 μm, etc.

[0119] The concavo-convex period length a3 of the secondary texture pattern 33 can be 0.01 - 5 μm, specifically, it can be 0.01 μm, 0.05 μm, 1 μm, 3 μm, 5 μm, etc. The secondary texture pattern 33 may include a plurality of texture protrusions 331. Among them, the height b3 of the texture protrusion 331 can be 0.01 - 5 μm, specifically, such as 0.01 μm, 0.05 μm, 0.1 μm, 0.5 μm, 1 μm, 5 μm, etc. The width c3 of the bottom of the texture protrusion 331 may account for 10% - 100% of the corresponding concavo-convex period length a3, specifically, such as 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 90%, 100%, etc.

[0120] Among them, the cross-sectional shapes of the primary texture pattern 32 and the secondary texture pattern 33 in the radial direction can be respectively a plurality of connected squares and zigzags, such as Figure 13 shown, and can also be respectively at least one of a plurality of connected squares, trapezoids, arcs, etc. as shown in Figure 10 , 11 , and as shown in 12, and are not specifically limited here.

[0121] It should be noted that the shapes and sizes of each texture protrusion 331 in the secondary texture pattern 33 can be the same or different, and are not specifically limited here.

[0122] In addition, please refer to Figure 15 , the ratio of the length d3 of each texture protrusion 331 in the secondary texture pattern 33 to the concavo-convex period length a3 corresponding to the texture protrusion 331 may be not less than 4, specifically, such as 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. Among them, the length d3 of the texture protrusion 331 refers to the length of the texture protrusion 331 in its extending direction.

[0123] When the ratio of the length d3 of the texture protrusion 331 to the concavo-convex period length a3 corresponding to it is not less than 4, it can make the texture pattern 31 have sufficient anisotropy, so as to be able to guide the liquid crystal to align according to its shape.

[0124] It should be pointed out that in an application scenario, both the primary texture pattern 32 and the secondary texture pattern 33 can orient the liquid crystal according to their respective geometric shapes; in another application scenario, the primary texture pattern 32 cannot orient the liquid crystal, and the liquid crystal can be oriented under the limitation of the secondary texture pattern 33. It is specifically set according to actual needs and is not specifically limited here.

[0125] Furthermore, under the action of the above-mentioned texture layer 30 or texture mold 500 with the texture pattern 31, the liquid crystal optical film 20 in the present application forms corresponding microstructural textures 21 on the surface on the side facing the texture layer 30 or the texture mold 500, and the microstructural textures 21 also have corresponding two shapes.

[0126] Specifically, in one shape, refer to Figure 16 , the microstructure texture 21 can be arranged in a periodic pattern with alternating concave and convex portions. Herein, the periodic arrangement refers to the concave-convex period with alternating concave and convex portions. In this embodiment, the shapes and sizes of each concave-convex period are not limited to be exactly the same. The shapes and sizes corresponding to each concave-convex period can be the same or different. For example, the concave-convex period can be uniform, regularly varying, or randomly varying; and the height of the protrusion can also be uniform, regularly varying, or randomly varying, which is not specifically limited herein.

[0127] Specifically, the length a4 of the concave-convex period can be 0.1 - 50 μm, specifically 0.1 μm, 1 μm, 10 μm, 30 μm, 50 μm, etc. Further, the length a4 of the concave-convex period can also be 0.5 - 20 μm, specifically 0.5 μm, 5 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc., which is not specifically limited herein.

[0128] Further, the microstructure texture 21 can include a plurality of microstructure protrusions 211. Among them, the height b4 of the microstructure protrusion 211 can be 0.01 - 20 μm, specifically 0.01 μm, 0.1 μm, 1 μm, 5 μm, 10 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc. Further, the height b4 of the microstructure protrusion 211 can also be 0.1 - 10 μm, specifically 0.5 μm, 2 μm, 4 μm, 6 μm, 8 μm, etc.

[0129] It should be noted that the above concave-convex period a4 and the height b4 of the microstructure protrusion 211 should not be too large or too small. When they are too small, it is difficult to ensure the texture accuracy, and when they are too large, the orientation effect on the liquid crystal molecules becomes poor, and it is easy to cause a large haze of the finally formed liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0130] Further, the width c4 at the bottom of the microstructure protrusion 211 can account for 10% - 100% of the corresponding concave-convex period length a4, specifically 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 90%, 100%, etc. The angle θ1 between the tangent plane β at any point on the surface of the microstructure protrusion 211 and the surface of the substrate 10 can be 1 - 90°, specifically 1°, 5°, 10°, 30°, 50°, 70°, 90°, etc.

[0131] In this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the microstructure texture 21 can be a plurality of connected zigzags, as Figure 16 shown, and can also be at least one of a plurality of connected squares, trapezoids, arcs, etc. respectively as Figure 9 , 10 , 11 shown, which is not specifically limited herein.

[0132] Specifically, the cross-sectional shape of the microstructure texture 21 here may refer to the cross-sectional shape of the microstructure texture 21 in the radial direction, that is, perpendicular to the length extension direction of the microstructure texture 21.

[0133] It should be noted that the shapes and sizes of each microstructure protrusion 211 in the microstructure texture 21 may be the same or different, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0134] Furthermore, please refer to Figure 17 , the ratio of the length d4 of each microstructure protrusion 211 to the uneven cycle length a4 corresponding to the microstructure protrusion 211 may be not less than 4, specifically such as 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. Among them, the length d4 of the microstructure protrusion 211 refers to the length of the microstructure protrusion 211 in its extension direction.

[0135] When the ratio of the length d4 of the microstructure protrusion 211 to the uneven cycle length a4 corresponding to it is not less than 4, the microstructure texture 21 can have sufficient anisotropy, so as to be able to guide the liquid crystal to be arranged according to its shape.

[0136] In another shape, please refer to Figure 18 and Figure 19 , the microstructure texture 21 includes a primary microstructure texture 22 and a secondary microstructure texture 23. Among them, both the primary microstructure texture 22 and the secondary microstructure texture 23 are arranged in a periodic pattern of alternating concavities and convexities, and the secondary microstructure texture 23 is formed on the primary microstructure texture 22.

[0137] Similar to the previous method, the periodic arrangement refers to the uneven cycle of alternating concavities and convexities. In this embodiment, it is not limited that the shapes and sizes of each uneven cycle of the primary microstructure texture 22 and the secondary microstructure texture 23 are exactly the same, and the corresponding shapes and sizes of each uneven cycle can be the same or different.

[0138] Specifically, the uneven cycle length a5 of the primary microstructure texture 22 can be 40 - 80 μm, specifically such as 40 μm, 50 μm, 60 μm, 70 μm, 80 μm, etc.

[0139] The uneven cycle length a6 of the secondary microstructure texture 23 can be 0.01 - 5 μm, specifically it can be 0.01 μm, 0.05, 1 μm, 3 μm, 5 μm, etc. The secondary microstructure texture 23 may include multiple microstructure protrusions 231. Among them, the height b6 of the microstructure protrusion 231 can be 0.01 - 5 μm, specifically such as 0.01 μm, 0.05 μm, 0.1 μm, 0.5 μm, 1 μm, 5 μm, etc. The width c6 of the bottom of the microstructure protrusion 231 can account for 10% - 100% of the corresponding uneven cycle length a6, specifically such as 10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, 90%, 100%, etc.

[0140] Among them, the cross-sectional shapes of the first-level microstructural texture 22 and the second-level microstructural texture 23 in the radial direction can be respectively a plurality of connected squares and zigzags, as Figure 18 shown, and can also be respectively as Figure 10 , 11 , at least one of a plurality of connected squares, trapezoids, arcs, etc. shown in 12, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0141] It should be noted that the shapes and sizes of each microstructure protrusion 231 in the second-level microstructural texture 23 can be the same or different, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0142] In addition, please refer to Figure 20 , the ratio of the length d6 of each microstructure protrusion 231 in the second-level microstructural texture 23 to the length a6 of the concavo-convex period corresponding to the microstructure protrusion 231 can be not less than 4, specifically such as 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. Among them, the length d6 of the microstructure protrusion 231 refers to the length of the microstructure protrusion 231 in its extending direction.

[0143] When the ratio of the length d6 of the microstructure protrusion 231 to the length a6 of the concavo-convex period corresponding to it is not less than 4, the microstructural texture 21 can have sufficient anisotropy, so that the liquid crystal can be guided to be arranged according to its shape.

[0144] It should be pointed out that in an application scenario, both the first-level microstructural texture 22 and the second-level microstructural texture 23 can orient the liquid crystal according to their respective geometric shapes; in another application scenario, the first-level microstructural texture 22 cannot orient the liquid crystal, and the liquid crystal can be oriented under the limitation of the second-level microstructural texture 23. Specifically, it is set according to actual needs, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0145] In addition, the thickness of the liquid crystal optical film 20 can be 3-10 μm, specifically such as 3 μm, 5 μm, 7 μm, 9 μm, 10 μm, etc. In the liquid crystal optical film 20 within this thickness range, the liquid crystal can achieve good orientation through the above method and has a high reflectivity.

[0146] Furthermore, as Figure 7 , 8 , 16 shown, in the above scheme where the liquid crystal is oriented according to the shape of the texture pattern 31 of the texture layer 30, the finally formed housing 100 can include a substrate 10, a liquid crystal optical film 20 and a texture layer 30, and the texture layer 30 is disposed between the substrate 10 and the liquid crystal optical film 20 and has a texture pattern 31 corresponding to the corresponding microstructural texture 21 on the side facing the corresponding liquid crystal optical film 20.

[0147] Furthermore, please refer to Figure 21, in one embodiment, the number of the liquid crystal optical films 20 and the texture layers 30 can both be two. The laminated structure composed of one liquid crystal optical film 20 and the corresponding texture layer 30 and the laminated structure composed of the other liquid crystal optical film 20 and the other texture layer 30 can both be disposed on the same side of the substrate 10. Of course, in other embodiments, they can also be respectively disposed on both sides of the substrate 10, which is not specifically limited herein.

[0148] It should be noted that in this way, the housing 100 can have the effect of double texture and double plating, thereby further improving the brightness, gloss and vividness of the housing 100, and improving the presentation effect of the housing 100.

[0149] Of course, in other embodiments, the number of the liquid crystal optical films 20 and the texture layers 30 can also both be three, so that the housing 100 has the effect of triple texture and triple plating, or more layers can also be provided, which can be specifically determined according to actual requirements and is not specifically limited herein.

[0150] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the housing 100 may further include a functional layer 40. Hereinafter, the housing 100 having a single-layer texture layer 30 and a single-layer liquid crystal optical film 20 will be taken as an example for introduction.

[0151] Specifically, please refer to Figure 22 - 25 together, wherein the functional layer 40 can be a single-layer or multi-layer structural layer, and can be disposed on the side of the liquid crystal optical film 20 away from the substrate 10, or between the liquid crystal optical film 20 and the substrate 10, or on the side of the substrate 10 away from the liquid crystal optical film 20. Among them, the functional layer 40 includes at least one of a light-shielding layer 41, a reflective layer 42, a color layer 43 and a hardening layer 44.

[0152] Specifically, as Figure 22 shown, the housing 100 may include a substrate 10, a texture layer 30, a liquid crystal optical film 20 and a light-shielding layer 41 which are sequentially laminated. Among them, the light-shielding layer 41 can be specifically disposed at a position of the housing 100 close to the internal components of the electronic device to shield the internal components of the electronic device. It can be specifically black, white or other colors. The material for forming the light-shielding layer 41 can be ink or other materials.

[0153] In an application scenario, the light-shielding layer 41 can be realized by spraying; in another application scenario, it can be formed by screen printing. Specifically, four layers of ink can be screen printed, and after each printing is completed, it can be baked at 60-100 °C for 15-150 minutes for sufficient curing. The single-layer thickness can be 5-20 μm. Specifically, the baking temperature can be 60 °C, 80 °C, 100 °C, and the baking time can be specifically 15 minutes, 50 minutes, 100 minutes, 150 minutes, etc. The single-layer thickness can be specifically 5 μm, 10 μm, 15 μm, 20 μm, etc.

[0154] In an application scenario, the multi-layered light-shielding layer 41 can also serve as a color layer 43, a fireproof layer, a protective layer, etc. respectively, and specifically, different colors of ink can be screen-printed according to requirements to achieve this.

[0155] In this embodiment, the structural color in this solution is arranged on the side closer to the outside, and the light-shielding layer 41 is arranged on the side closer to the inside. At the same time, the texture layer 30 can add a dipping process to produce a semi-transparent color, making the color presented by the housing 100 richer.

[0156] As Figure 23 shown, the housing 100 may include a substrate 10, a texture layer 30, a liquid crystal optical film 20, a reflective layer 42, and a light-shielding layer 41 that are sequentially stacked. Among them, the reflective layer 42 can be used to reflect the incident light, thereby improving the brightness and gloss of the housing 100, making the housing 100 present a high-brightness effect. In this embodiment, the material of the reflective layer 42 can be at least one of indium and tin, or other non-conductive metal layers. The reflective layer 42 material can be directly or indirectly plated on the substrate 10 by using an electron gun, thereby forming the reflective layer 42. The setting of the reflective layer 42 can further enhance the brightness and gloss of the housing 100, making it present a metallic luster.

[0157] Further, as Figure 24 shown, the housing 100 may include a substrate 10, a color layer 43, a texture layer 30, a liquid crystal optical film 20, a reflective layer 42, and a light-shielding layer 41 that are sequentially stacked. Among them, the color layer 43 can have a preset color, and specifically, it can be formed by using colored ink, pigments, dyes, etc. through processes such as spraying, screen printing, printing, and offset printing. Specifically, according to actual needs, the formed color layer 43 can be made semi-transparent or opaque by selecting raw materials and processes. The color presented by the color layer 43 can be selected according to actual needs and is not limited here.

[0158] Further, please refer to Figure 25 , in an embodiment, the housing 100 may include a hardening layer 44, a substrate 10, a texture layer 30, a liquid crystal optical film 20, a reflective layer 42, and a light-shielding layer 41 that are sequentially stacked. Among them, the hardening layer 44 can be the outermost structure of the housing 100 away from the electronic device, and it plays a protective role for other structural layers of the housing 100. Of course, in other embodiments, other structural layers can be further formed on the outside of the hardening layer 44, which is not specifically limited here. Specifically, the hardening layer 44 can be realized by spraying a hardening liquid on the substrate 10, etc. It should be noted that the formation of the hardening layer 44 can improve the wear resistance, scratch resistance, and anti-scratch ability of the housing 100.

[0159] Next, the housing 100 having a liquid crystal optical film 20 will be further introduced as an example below.

[0160] Specifically, please refer to Figure 26 , the housing 100 may include a base body 10, a liquid crystal optical film 20, and a light-shielding layer 41 that are sequentially stacked. Among them, the microstructural texture 21 of the liquid crystal optical film 20 is disposed on the side close to the light-shielding layer 41.

[0161] Please refer to Figure 27 , the housing 100 may include a base body 10, a liquid crystal optical film 20, a reflective layer 42, and a light-shielding layer 41 that are sequentially stacked. Among them, since the reflective layer 42 is formed on the side of the liquid crystal optical film 20 having the microstructural texture 21, it has a texture structure consistent with the microstructural texture 21. Thus, the cooperation between the two can further enhance the cooperation of the structural color and the texture, thereby further improving the presentation effect of the housing 100.

[0162] In addition, in other embodiments, the functional layer 40 may also be other, which will not be listed one by one here.

[0163] It should be noted that, in the manufacturing method of the housing 100 in the present application, in addition to forming the above-mentioned base body 10, liquid crystal optical film 20, texture layer 30, and functional layer 40, high-pressure molding treatment and numerical control machine tool processing and other steps may also be further performed. Specifically, appropriate manufacturing steps can be determined according to actual requirements, and no specific limitation is made here.

[0164] The housing 100 in the present application will be described below through specific examples and comparative examples.

[0165] Among them, the main differences between the corresponding housing 100 in each example and comparative example are as follows: the housing 100 in Comparative Examples 1-10 uses the texture layer 30 + optical coating laminated structure in the related art to achieve the effect of structural color + texture; while in Examples 1-9, the texture layer 30 + liquid crystal optical film 20 with microstructural texture 21 laminated structure is used to replace the texture layer 30 + optical coating laminated structure in Comparative Examples 1-10; in Examples 10-12, the liquid crystal optical film 20 with microstructural texture 21 is used to replace the texture layer 30 + optical coating laminated structure in Comparative Examples 1-10.

[0166] The cracking phenomena of Comparative Examples 1-10 and Examples 1-12 were respectively tested by boiling in water at 80 °C for 30 minutes and boiling in water at 100 °C for 4 hours. The specific test results are shown in Table 1 below. Among them, the structure subjected to boiling in water is the structure of the housing 100 that has not yet prepared the light-shielding layer 41. In addition, the thickness in Table 1 refers to the thickness of the optical coating in Comparative Examples 1-10 and the thickness of the liquid crystal optical film 20 in Comparative Examples 1-12.

[0167] Table 1 Boiling Test Results of Each Example and Comparative Example

[0168]

[0169]

[0170] As can be seen from Table 1 above, in the solution of the texture layer 30 + optical coating laminate structure, if the thickness of the reflective layer 42 is higher than 0.5 μm, cracking usually occurs after boiling in water at 80 °C for 30 minutes. After replacing it with the liquid crystal optical film 20, both solutions meet the requirement that no cracking occurs even after boiling in water at 100 °C for 4 hours, which shows that the solution of using the liquid crystal optical film 20 to replace the traditional metal coating in this application can greatly improve the reliability of the housing 100.

[0171] Next, different embodiments are used to detect the wavelength and reflectivity of the reflected light of the liquid crystal optical film 20 with different thicknesses in this application. Among them, this detection is carried out on the single-layer liquid crystal optical film 20 by using an OLYMPUS USPM-380 reflection spectrometer. The detection results are shown in Table 2 below.

[0172] Table 2 Detection results of the light reflectivity of each embodiment

[0173] Item Reflection wavelength / nm Liquid crystal optical film thickness / μm Reflectivity / % Example 13 650 1.1 16 Example 14 650 1.4 23 Example 15 650 1.7 29 Example 16 650 2.1 36 Example 17 650 2.5 42 Example 18 650 3 45 Example 19 650 5 47 Example 20 650 7 46 Example 21 650 10 47

[0174] As can be seen from Table 2 above, the change in the thickness of the liquid crystal optical film 20 has little effect on the wavelength of the reflected light. Moreover, after the thickness of the liquid crystal optical film 20 reaches 3 μm, the reflectivity changes little with the change in thickness. This further shows that the color difference of the liquid crystal optical film 20 in this application is relatively easy to control, thus further improving the consistency of the appearance of the housing 100.

[0175] The above is only the implementation mode of this application, and it does not limit the patent scope of this application. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process transformation made by using the content of the specification and drawings of this application, or directly or indirectly applied in other related technical fields, is equally included in the patent protection scope of this application.

Claims

1. A housing, characterized in that, Comprising: A substrate; At least one liquid crystal optical film, disposed on the substrate, containing aligned liquid crystals, and having a microstructure texture on the surface. The aligned liquid crystals generate structural color under the action of the microstructure texture. The microstructure texture is located on the side of the liquid crystal optical film facing the substrate, and the color presented by the liquid crystal optical film changes with the change of the viewing angle.

2. The housing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The microstructure texture has a preset shape, and the alignment of the liquid crystals corresponds to the preset shape.

3. The housing according to claim 2, characterized in that, The microstructure texture is arranged in a periodic pattern of alternating concave and convex, and satisfies: the length of the first concave-convex period is 0.1 - 50 μm, the width of the bottom of the first microstructure protrusion accounts for 10% - 100% of the length of the first concave-convex period, the height of the first microstructure protrusion is 0.01 - 20 μm, and at least one of the included angle between the tangent plane of the surface of the first microstructure protrusion and the surface of the substrate is 1 - 90°.

4. The housing according to claim 3, characterized in that, The ratio of the length of the first microstructure protrusion to the corresponding length of the first concave-convex period is not less than 4.

5. The housing according to claim 2, characterized in that, The microstructure texture includes a primary microstructure texture and a secondary microstructure texture. Among them, the secondary microstructure texture is formed on the primary microstructure texture and is arranged in a periodic pattern of alternating concave and convex, and satisfies: the length of the second concave-convex period is 0.01 - 5 μm, the width of the bottom of the second microstructure protrusion accounts for 10% - 100% of the second concave-convex period, and the height of the second microstructure protrusion is at least one of 0.01 - 5 μm.

6. The housing according to claim 5, characterized in that, The ratio of the length of the second microstructure protrusion to the corresponding length of the second concave-convex period is not less than 4.

7. The housing according to claim 5, characterized in that The primary microstructure texture is arranged in a periodic pattern of alternating concave and convex, and satisfies: the length of the third concave-convex period is 40 - 80 μm.

8. The housing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The cross-sectional shape of the microstructure texture is at least one of a plurality of interconnected squares, trapezoids, zigzags, and arcs.

9. The housing according to claim 1, wherein The thickness of the liquid crystal optical film is 3 - 10 μm.

10. The housing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The aligned liquid crystals in the liquid crystal optical film are used to enable part of the incident light entering the liquid crystal optical film to be reflected by the liquid crystals to obtain reflected light, and the wavelength of the reflected light changes with the change of the incident angle of the incident light; Wherein, the wavelength of the reflected light satisfies: λ = 2np sinθ, where λ is the wavelength of the reflected light, n is the average refractive index of the aligned liquid crystals, p is the pitch of the aligned liquid crystals, and θ is the complementary angle of the incident angle of the incident light.

11. The housing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The liquid crystal is a cholesteric liquid crystal.

12. The housing according to claim 1, characterized in that, The housing further includes at least one texture layer. Among them, each texture layer is disposed on the side of the corresponding liquid crystal optical film having the microstructure texture and has a texture pattern corresponding to the corresponding microstructure texture on the side facing the corresponding liquid crystal optical film.

13. The housing according to claim 12, wherein The number of the liquid crystal optical films and the texture layers is two. The laminated structure composed of one liquid crystal optical film and the corresponding texture layer and the laminated structure composed of the other liquid crystal optical film and the other texture layer are respectively disposed on the same side of the substrate, or respectively disposed on both sides of the substrate.

14. The housing according to claim 1, wherein, The housing further includes: A functional layer is disposed on a side of the liquid crystal optical film away from the substrate, or between the liquid crystal optical film and the substrate, or on a side of the substrate away from the liquid crystal optical film. Wherein, the functional layer includes at least one of a light-shielding layer, a reflective layer, a color layer, and a hardening layer.

15. A manufacturing method of a housing, characterized in that, Comprising: Providing a substrate; Forming a liquid crystal optical film on the substrate. Wherein, the liquid crystal optical film contains aligned liquid crystals and has a microstructure texture on its surface. The aligned liquid crystals generate structural color under the action of the microstructure texture. The microstructure texture is located on a side of the liquid crystal optical film facing the substrate, and the color presented by the liquid crystal optical film changes with the change of the viewing angle.

16. The manufacturing method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The microstructure texture has a preset shape, wherein the alignment of the liquid crystals corresponds to the preset shape.

17. The manufacturing method according to claim 16, characterized in that, The step of forming the liquid crystal optical film on the substrate includes: Forming a texture layer on the substrate, wherein the texture layer has a texture pattern corresponding to the microstructure texture; Coating a liquid crystal coating solution on the texture layer so that the liquid crystals in the liquid crystal coating layer are aligned according to the shape of the texture pattern and form a liquid crystal coating layer; Performing a curing treatment on the liquid crystal coating layer to form the liquid crystal optical film.

18. The manufacturing method according to claim 17, characterized in that, The texture pattern is arranged in a periodic arrangement of alternating concavities and convexities and satisfies: the length of the first concavity-convexity period is 0.1-50 μm, the width of the bottom of the first texture protrusion accounts for 10%-100% of the length of the first concavity-convexity period, the height of the first texture protrusion is 0.01-20 μm, and at least one of the included angle between the surface tangent of the first texture protrusion and the surface of the substrate is 1-90°.

19. The manufacturing method according to claim 17, wherein, The texture pattern includes a primary texture pattern and a secondary texture pattern. Wherein, the secondary texture pattern is formed on the primary texture pattern and is arranged in a periodic arrangement of alternating concavities and convexities and satisfies: the length of the second concavity-convexity period is 0.01-5 μm, the width of the bottom of the second texture protrusion accounts for 10%-100% of the second concavity-convexity period, and at least one of the height of the second texture protrusion is 0.01-5 μm.

20. An electronic device, characterized in that, Comprising: A housing defining an accommodation space; A functional device accommodated in the accommodation space; Wherein, the housing is the housing according to any one of claims 1-14 or the housing manufactured by the manufacturing method according to any one of claims 15-19.

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