Blue Pigment Bleaching Agent for Clear UV-Blocking Optical Polymers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bleaching agents for polymerizable compositions used in optical materials, particularly allyl polymers, face challenges in achieving transparency, colorlessness, and UV-light blocking without impairing mechanical properties, and often result in yellowing due to high UV absorber concentrations.
Innovation Solution
A bleaching agent comprising an aromatic allyl-based polymerizable component, a blue pigment, and a polymeric dispersant stabilizes pigment particles to below 400 nm, allowing effective UV-light blocking and color correction while maintaining mechanical properties, using peroxide-free radical initiators.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If high amounts of UV absorbers are incorporated in the polymerizable composition to achieve UV cutting properties, then UV blocking capability is improved, but the polymer material develops yellow color
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies color compensation by incorporating blue pigments (such as ultramarine blue, phthalocyanine blue, or cobalt blue) into the polymerizable composition to counteract the yellow coloration caused by UV absorbers. The blue pigment absorbs in the yellow region of the spectrum and reflects blue light, which compensates for the yellow tint when viewed by the human eye, thereby achieving a neutral or colorless appearance while maintaining UV blocking capability.
2Illumination intensity
If blue pigments are incorporated to compensate yellow color, then color neutrality is improved, but haze increases due to pigment aggregation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs dispersants as intermediary substances to prevent aggregation of blue pigment particles in the polymerizable composition. These dispersants (such as polymeric dispersants, surfactants, or silica-based dispersants) adsorb onto the pigment particle surfaces, providing steric or electrostatic repulsion that keeps particles separated and uniformly distributed, thereby preventing light scattering and haze formation while maintaining color neutrality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent controls the particle size of blue pigments by selecting pigments with specific size ranges (typically sub-micron or nanometer scale) and optimizing processing parameters such as milling conditions, mixing speed, and temperature during preparation. By controlling particle size and distribution parameters, the patent minimizes light scattering effects that cause haze while maintaining sufficient pigment concentration for color compensation.
3Manufacturing precision
If pigment particles are reduced to below 400 nm to minimize haze, then transparency is improved, but dispersion stability becomes difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses dispersants as intermediary substances to prevent aggregation of blue pigment particles in the polymerizable composition. These dispersants (such as polymeric dispersants, surfactants, or silica-based dispersants) adsorb onto the pigment particle surfaces, providing steric or electrostatic repulsion that keeps particles separated and uniformly distributed, thereby preventing light scattering and haze formation while maintaining color neutrality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite system consisting of blue pigment particles, dispersants, and polymerizable composition components. This composite structure allows the dispersant molecules to form protective layers around sub-400 nm pigment particles, providing steric hindrance and electrostatic repulsion that prevent aggregation. The synergistic interaction between the ultrafine pigment particles and dispersant molecules maintains long-term dispersion stability while achieving high transparency in the cured optical material.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables the production of transparent, colorless optical materials with minimal haze and excellent mechanical properties, effectively blocking UV and HEV light without yellowing, and allows for stable pigment dispersion and cost-effective manufacturing.
Implementation Method 1
a colouring component comprising particles of a blue pigment (b1)... the particles of the colouring component (B) have a z-average size equal to or lower than 400 nm
Implementation Method 2
a polymeric dispersing agent to disperse the particles of the colouring component (B) in the polymerizable component (A)
Implementation Method 3
using peroxide-free radical initiators
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a bleaching agent comprising: (A) a polymerizable component comprising an aromatic ester compound including two or more allyloxycarbonyl groups, (B) a colouring component comprising particles of a blue pigment (b1), (C) a polymeric dispersing agent to disperse the particles of the colouring component (B) in the polymerizable component (A), the particles of the colouring component (B) having an average size equal to or lower than 400 nm. The present invention also relates to the preparation and use of the above bleaching agent with polymerizable compositions for optical materials.