Flexible Display Window Polymer Glass Composite
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible electronic devices face challenges with glass materials due to low bending ability, susceptibility to heat and moisture, and polymer materials' weakness in surface hardness and scratch resistance, which affects their quality and durability.
Innovation Solution
A flexible display window and electronic device design incorporating a polymer layer, a glass layer interposed between the polymer layer and the screen, and an adhesive layer to enhance impact resistance, strength, and bending rigidity, while maintaining high surface hardness and optical performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If glass material is applied to front surface or rear surface for protection and design, then surface hardness and optical performance are improved, but bending ability is reduced and the device becomes fragile
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the protective layer into multiple segments: a polymer layer and a glass layer. The polymer layer provides flexibility and bending ability, while the glass layer provides surface hardness and optical performance. This segmentation allows each material to contribute its strengths without suffering from the weaknesses of the other.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite material structure combining polymer and glass layers. The polymer layer (first transparent layer) is bonded to the glass layer (second transparent layer) to create a heterogeneous complex material that simultaneously achieves flexibility from the polymer and hardness/optical performance from the glass, resolving the contradiction between these properties.
2Adaptability or versatility
If glass material is made thin to improve bending ability, then flexibility is improved, but the glass material becomes easily broken
Solution Approach 1:
The polymer layer serves as a cushioning layer that absorbs and distributes stress before it reaches the thin glass layer. This beforehand cushioning prevents the thin glass from breaking during bending operations, allowing the glass to be made thin for flexibility while maintaining breakage resistance through the protective polymer layer.
3Adaptability or versatility
If polymer material is used for flexible display module, then bending ability is improved, but surface hardness and scratch resistance are weakened
Solution Approach 1:
The protective layer is segmented into a polymer layer for bending ability and a glass layer for scratch resistance. The glass layer specifically addresses the weakness of polymer materials in surface hardness and scratch resistance, while the polymer layer maintains the bending flexibility.
4Adaptability or versatility
If polymer material is used at rear surface, then flexibility is improved, but pressing and stabbing resistance is weakened
Solution Approach 1:
The composite structure of polymer layer bonded to glass layer provides both flexibility from the polymer and pressing/stabbing resistance from the glass. The glass layer's high strength compensates for the polymer's weakness in resisting concentrated loads, while maintaining overall flexibility.
5Adaptability or versatility
If glass material is synthesized with another material to create heterogeneous complex material, then functionality is improved, but the glass material becomes weak when exposed to heat and moisture
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of synthesizing glass with other materials (which weakens glass), the patent segments the structure into separate polymer and glass layers. This maintains the inherent heat and moisture resistance of glass while adding the functional benefits of polymer materials, avoiding the degradation of glass properties through synthesis.
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 improves the quality and durability of flexible display windows by enhancing impact resistance, strength, and bending rigidity, allowing for a thinner design that can be bent to a 3mm radius, maintaining optical performance comparable to glass, and facilitating easier replacement.
Implementation Method 1
an adhesive layer interposed between the polymer layer and the glass layer
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~4a
Figure 4b~5
AI summary
A flexible display window and an electronic device having the same are provided. The electronic device includes a housing including a first rigid portion and a flexible portion, at least one outer layer that covers the first rigid portion and the flexible portion, a display device including a screen including a first portion exposed through the first rigid portion and a second portion extended from the first portion and exposed through the flexible portion, at least one processor electrically coupled to the display device, and a memory electrically coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the outer layer includes a polymer layer, a glass layer interposed between the polymer layer and the screen, and an adhesive layer interposed between the polymer layer and the glass layer.