AG touch glass printing target point cutting process

Abstract

The application discloses an AG touch glass printing target point cutting process, which comprises the following steps: (1) forming a plurality of preset positioning marks on the surface of an AG glass sheet by silk printing; (2) placing the AG glass sheet with the preset positioning marks silk-printed thereon on a cutting machine table; (3) positioning the AG glass sheet based on the preset positioning marks; and (4) taking the preset positioning marks as a unified positioning reference, and cutting the AG glass sheet along a preset segmentation path to segment the AG glass sheet into two AG touch glass sheets of a target size along a center straight line. The application can unify the reference, improve the efficiency and reduce the cost.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of touch glass cutting technology, specifically to a process for cutting printed target points on AG touch glass. Background Technology

[0002] Anti-Glare (AG) glass is an optical glass that uses chemical etching and other processes to create a microscopic uneven structure on the glass surface, causing incident light to scatter and thus reducing specular reflection. It is widely used in touch panels for smartphones, tablets, automotive displays, and other devices. In a typical frosted etched AG glass manufacturing process, the cutting step is usually arranged after the AG etching process. For products that require AG to be shielded (such as areas where camera holes cannot be etched), acid-resistant protective ink must be screen-printed on specific areas before frosted etching for masking.

[0003] Currently, the cutting of AG touch glass mainly adopts a single-piece cutting process. The basic process is as follows: the large glass plate that has completed AG processing is first cut into single pieces of glass that are similar in size to the final product but with a margin on all four sides; then, positioning target points are printed in the margin area on the edge of each single piece, and the margin on the edge of the glass is used as the cutting reference for positioning, and the subsequent fine processing is completed step by step.

[0004] However, existing technologies have the following technical problems. First, during AG etching and heat treatment, uneven stress release within the material causes warping deformation of the large glass sheet. Simultaneously, the dimensional tolerances and edge irregularities of the original glass sheet accumulate and amplify with the size of the large sheet. Current single-piece cutting processes use the pre-determined allowance at the glass edge as a positioning reference, but the edge is precisely the area most affected by warping and tolerances. When the glass edge has slight bends or irregularities, the relative position between the cutting position determined by this reference and the product's functional area will deviate, leading to quality problems such as misalignment and asymmetry. This positioning error caused by improper reference selection is difficult to eliminate through the equipment itself in single-piece cutting. Second, single-piece cutting requires cutting and loading / unloading one piece at a time. Each product undergoes an independent positioning, cutting, and handling process, resulting in significant idle time for the equipment while waiting for loading / unloading and repositioning, thus limiting equipment utilization and single-machine capacity. Meanwhile, frequent handling and transportation operations increase the risk of scratches on the glass surface, especially for glass with microstructure treatment already completed on the AG surface. Scratches will directly affect optical performance and may even lead to product scrap. This efficiency bottleneck is particularly prominent in mass production. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The present invention aims to provide a new cutting process for printing target points on AG touch glass, which can unify the benchmark, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, this application provides the following technical solution: A process for cutting printed target dots on AG touch glass includes the following steps: (1) Screen printing multiple preset positioning marks on the surface of the whole AG glass; (2) Place the whole AG glass with the preset positioning marks on the cutting machine table; (3) Position the whole AG glass with the preset positioning marks as the reference; (4) With the preset positioning marks as the unified positioning reference, the cutting device cuts the whole AG glass once along the preset dividing path, dividing the whole AG glass into two pieces of AG touch glass of target size along the center line.

[0007] Working principle and beneficial effects of the present invention: This invention uses high-precision positioning marks pre-printed on the entire AG glass sheet as a unified positioning benchmark, eliminating positioning errors caused by original sheet size deviations, glass warping, and irregular edges. The cutting and printing devices share the same screen reference, significantly improving the relative positional accuracy between the cutting path and the printed pattern, effectively controlling misalignment and asymmetry. Employing a one-to-two process, two products can be produced in a single loading and cutting operation, resulting in significantly higher equipment utilization and single-machine capacity than existing single-piece cutting solutions, making it suitable for mass production. Simultaneously, reduced loading and unloading times and fewer handling operations help reduce the risk of scratches on the AG surface. The elimination of the need for positioning allowances around each sheet results in less edge material, a more compact layout, and significantly improved raw material utilization, saving a quarter of the allowance cost per product. Since the left and right products share the same benchmark, coordinate system, and cutting path, the stability of the two products in terms of size, symmetry, and parallelism is far superior to single-piece cutting, resulting in a more uniform product yield.

[0008] Furthermore, the preset positioning marks are cross-shaped, circular, or square, and are distributed in the four corner areas of the entire AG glass.

[0009] On the surface of the entire AG glass sheet, high-contrast positioning marks in the shape of a cross, circle, or square are formed at the four corners using a screen printing process. These marks serve as a unified positioning reference for subsequent cutting processes. Their distribution at the four corners helps to cover the deformation information of the entire glass sheet, allowing the equipment to calculate the glass's offset, rotation angle, and scaling ratio in the horizontal plane by identifying the relative positional relationship of the four marks, thereby compensating for and correcting the pose of the entire glass sheet. Cross-shaped marks facilitate the identification of the center intersection point, circular marks are beneficial for center fitting, and square marks are convenient for corner point extraction; all shapes provide clear coordinate references.

[0010] Distributing positioning marks at the four corners effectively eliminates positioning errors caused by original sheet dimensional tolerances, glass warping, and irregular edges. Compared to existing single-piece cutting methods that rely on pre-existing glass edge allowances, this solution establishes a coordinate system using the four corner targets, which more comprehensively reflects the actual deformation state of the entire glass sheet, thus achieving higher positioning accuracy. Furthermore, the four targets share the same printing screen, ensuring the relative positional accuracy between the targets themselves and providing a stable and reliable benchmark for subsequent one-to-two cutting.

[0011] Furthermore, the preset positioning mark shares the same set of screen printing plates with the window area, functional area and border pattern of the AG touch glass.

[0012] The positioning target points, the product's viewing area, functional areas (such as the camera aperture clearance area), and border decorative patterns are all integrated onto the same screen printing plate, and all of these patterns are printed simultaneously in a single screen printing process. This means that the relative positional relationship between the positioning target points and the product's functional patterns is entirely determined by the plate-making precision of the screen itself, eliminating the possibility of cumulative alignment errors from multiple printings or different devices. After printing, the geometric relationship between the target points and the viewing area and functional areas is fixed. Subsequent cutting processes only need to align these target points to ensure precise alignment between the cutting path and the product's functional areas.

[0013] In existing technologies, the printing of target dots and the printing of functional areas of the product during single-piece cutting are often performed separately, or the target dots are printed first and the cutting is done later, but the reference is not consistent, which easily leads to cumulative errors. This solution eliminates the reference conversion error between multiple processes by using the same screen, which greatly reduces quality problems such as misalignment and asymmetry, and significantly improves the positional accuracy of the product's functional areas relative to the glass edge after cutting.

[0014] Furthermore, the preset dividing path is set along the center line of the entire AG glass, and a single cut simultaneously forms two pieces of AG touch glass, one on the left and one on the right.

[0015] After positioning the glass based on the printing target, the cutting device sets a cutting path along the geometric center line of the entire AG glass sheet. This path divides the entire glass sheet into two symmetrical regions, each with dimensions corresponding to the target size of the final product. The cutting device performs a continuous cutting motion along this center line, dividing the large glass sheet into two independent AG touch glass pieces.

[0016] Because the left and right products share the same cutting path and the same cutting action, compared to the existing single-piece cutting process which requires loading, positioning, and cutting each piece individually, this solution can produce two products in a single loading and cutting operation. This significantly increases equipment utilization and single-machine capacity, making it suitable for mass production. Furthermore, since the left and right products are formed simultaneously under the same reference and path, their dimensions, symmetry, and parallelism are highly consistent, far superior to the effect of pairing pieces after individual cutting. In addition, cutting along the center line eliminates the need for pre-reserved positioning allowances around each piece, resulting in less edge material, a more compact layout, and saving a quarter of the allowance cost per piece, significantly improving raw material utilization. The dividing edges are formed simultaneously.

[0017] Furthermore, the cutting device forms a modified layer inside the glass without directly cutting through it.

[0018] When a cutting device (such as the laser cutting module in a panel cutting machine) acts on a whole sheet of AG glass, it does not directly cut through the glass completely. Instead, it focuses energy to a certain depth inside the glass, forming a continuous modified layer within the glass material along a preset cutting path. This modified layer is a thin region where the physical or chemical properties of the glass material have changed under the action of laser energy, and its mechanical strength is significantly lower than that of the unmodified glass body. After the modified layer is processed, the glass is neatly divided along this modified layer through a subsequent slitting process (such as mechanical breaking or thermal stress separation), thereby achieving the separation of two pieces of glass.

[0019] Because the cutting process does not directly cut through the glass, it avoids the chipping and heat damage problems common in traditional cutting methods. The modified layer processing falls under the category of cold working, resulting in a small heat-affected zone and a smoother cut edge. Simultaneously, the non-direct cutting method allows the glass to maintain its overall structure throughout the cutting process, facilitating handling and subsequent processing, and reducing the risk of microcrack propagation caused by stress concentration during cutting. The final product achieves higher edge quality, reducing the difficulty or need for subsequent edge grinding.

[0020] Furthermore, the cutting device is a cutting machine. Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 This is a process flow diagram for this application. Detailed Implementation

[0022] The following detailed description illustrates the specific implementation method: Example 1: A process for cutting printed target dots on AG touch glass, comprising the following steps: Step 1: Print the pre-set positioning marks Take a whole sheet of AG glass (a large plate that has not been individually cut) and perform a screen printing operation on a screen printing machine. Print cross-shaped positioning marks on the four corner areas of the surface of the whole sheet of AG glass. The cross-shaped positioning marks and the window area, function area and border pattern of the AG touch glass are printed using the same set of screen printing plates to ensure that the relative position of cutting and printing is fixed from the source.

[0023] Step 2: Loading and Positioning A sheet of AG glass with a cross-shaped positioning mark printed on it is placed on the worktable of the cutting machine. The AG glass is positioned using the preset positioning mark as a reference, including position compensation and correction of the AG glass to eliminate positioning errors caused by original size deviation, glass warping, and irregular edges.

[0024] Step 3: Cut in half Using the preset positioning mark as a unified positioning reference, the cutting device is controlled to cut the entire AG glass in one operation along a preset dividing path. The preset dividing path is set along the center line of the entire AG glass, and a single cut simultaneously forms two pieces of AG touch glass, one on the left and one on the right. The cutting device forms a modified layer inside the glass without directly cutting through it to reduce edge chipping and thermal damage. After the modified layer processing is completed, the entire AG glass is divided into two pieces of AG touch glass of target size along the center line through a splitting process.

[0025] Example 2: The difference from Example 1 is that the preset positioning marks are circular and distributed in the four corner areas of the entire AG glass, with the center of the circle as the positioning reference point.

[0026] Example 3: The difference from Example 1 is that the preset positioning marks are square and distributed in the four corner areas of the entire AG glass, with the center of the circle as the positioning reference point.

[0027] Comparative Example 1: The difference from Example 1 is that the preset positioning mark and the window area, function area and border pattern of the AG touch glass are not printed using the same set of screen printing plates, and are printed in two separate steps.

[0028] Comparative Example 2: The difference from Example 1 is that the cutting device cuts directly through the glass.

[0029] Example of existing technology: Step 1: Pre-cut into individual pieces. Take a large sheet of glass that has undergone AG etching and cut it into several individual pieces of glass with dimensions similar to the final product but with allowances on all four sides. Each piece retains a certain allowance on all four sides for subsequent positioning. Step 2: Print positioning targets. In the allowance area on the edge of each individual piece, four positioning targets are printed using screen printing (distributed in the four corner areas of the individual piece). These positioning targets do not share the same screen printing plate as the product's viewing area, functional area, and border pattern; instead, they are printed separately.

[0030] Step 3: Loading and positioning. Place the single piece of glass with the printed positioning targets on the cutting machine table. Positioning is based on the allowance at the edge of the glass. Due to the original sheet tolerances and warping deformation at the edge of the glass, the positioning accuracy is limited.

[0031] Step 4: Single-piece cutting. Using the edge allowance as a reference, the cutting device is controlled to cut a single piece of glass. This cutting process usually involves cutting directly through the glass, which can easily cause edge chipping and thermal damage.

[0032] Step 5: Acid-resistant ink sealing. Before the frosted etching AG process, the four target sites on each wafer are sealed with acid-resistant ink to prevent the target areas from being eroded by the etching solution. Each product requires acid-resistant ink for four target sites.

[0033] Step 6: Post-processing. After completing the above steps, perform edge grinding, cleaning, chemical strengthening and other processes.

[0034] The products of Examples 1-3, Comparative Examples 1-2, and the prior art examples were tested. The testing methods are shown in Table 1 below, and the test data are shown in Table 2.

[0035] Table 1 - Detection Methods

[0036] Table 2 - Test Data

[0037] Examples 1-3 outperform Comparative Examples 1 and 2 in terms of positioning accuracy, edge chipping control, and symmetry, demonstrating that using the same screen and not directly cutting through the modified layer bring independent and cumulative technical effects. Comparative Example 1 (without sharing a screen) shows decreased positioning accuracy, proving that sharing a screen can eliminate accumulated errors. Comparative Example 2 (direct cutting) shows increased edge chipping, proving that cutting the modified layer can reduce edge chipping and thermal damage. Examples 1-3 (cross-shaped, circular, and square) have essentially equivalent effects; the optimal shape can be selected based on the actual recognition accuracy.

[0038] It should be noted that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and improvements without departing from the technical solution of this invention. These modifications and improvements should also be considered within the scope of protection of this invention, and will not affect the effectiveness of the invention or the practicality of the patent. The scope of protection claimed in this application shall be determined by the content of its claims, and the specific embodiments described in the specification can be used to interpret the content of the claims.

Claims

1. A process for cutting printing targets on AG touch glass, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: (1) Screen printing multiple preset positioning marks on the surface of the whole AG glass; (2) Place the whole AG glass with the preset positioning marks on the cutting machine table; (3) Position the whole AG glass with the preset positioning marks as the reference; (4) With the preset positioning marks as the unified positioning reference, the cutting device cuts the whole AG glass once along the preset dividing path, dividing the whole AG glass into two pieces of AG touch glass of target size along the center line.

2. The AG touch glass printing target cutting process according to claim 1, characterized in that: The preset positioning marks are cross-shaped, circular, or square, and are distributed in the four corner areas of the entire AG glass.

3. The AG touch glass printing target cutting process according to claim 2, characterized in that: The preset positioning marks and the window area, functional area and border pattern of the AG touch glass are printed using the same set of screen printing plates.

4. The AG touch glass printing target cutting process according to claim 3, characterized in that: The preset dividing path is set along the center line of the entire AG glass, and a single cut simultaneously forms two pieces of AG touch glass, one on the left and one on the right.

5. The AG touch glass printing target cutting process according to claim 4, characterized in that: The cutting device forms a modified layer inside the glass without directly cutting through it.

6. The AG touch glass printing target cutting process according to claim 5, characterized in that: The cutting device is a cutting machine.

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