Foldable Display Support Member for Crease-Resistant Bending
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Solution Overview
Problem
Foldable display devices face issues with mold imprints and creases due to openwork structures, and high modulus isolation layers enhance impact resistance but increase bending forces, leading to delamination and poor flatness.
Innovation Solution
A support member with a high modulus isolation layer and recessed patterns in transition regions to reduce bending forces and maintain flatness, using metallic or inorganic materials with specific recessed patterns to minimize mold imprints and creases.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If an isolation layer with high modulus (10 GPa to 250 GPa) is used, then impact resistance is enhanced, but bending forces increase leading to delamination and poor flatness
Solution Approach 1:
The isolation layer is divided into multiple segments along the bending direction, creating isolated islands rather than a continuous layer. This segmentation reduces the overall bending stiffness while maintaining local support properties, thereby reducing delamination risk and improving flatness while preserving impact resistance.
Solution Approach 2:
The isolation layer transitions from uniform structure to non-uniform structure with varying patterns (circles, squares, triangles, polygons) and densities in different regions. This local quality variation allows optimized mechanical properties - higher density in impact-prone areas, lower density in bending regions - resolving the contradiction between impact resistance and flatness.
2Adaptability or versatility
If openwork structures are added to the support layer in the bending region, then flexibility is improved, but mold imprints and creases occur on the display panel
Solution Approach 1:
The isolation layer acts as an intermediary between the support layer with openwork structures and the display panel. It absorbs and distributes the mechanical stresses caused by openwork structures during bending, preventing direct transmission of mold imprints and creases to the display panel while maintaining bending flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The isolation layer incorporates porous or openwork structures that allow controlled deformation during bending. These porous features enable the isolation layer to accommodate the flexibility requirements while maintaining sufficient structural integrity to prevent mold imprints on the display panel.
3Strength
If the isolation layer thickness is increased to improve impact resistance, then protection is enhanced, but the device complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of increasing the overall thickness of a continuous isolation layer, the patent segments the isolation layer into multiple thinner isolated regions. This achieves comparable or superior impact resistance through distributed structural support while keeping individual layer thicknesses manageable and manufacturing processes simpler.
Solution Approach 2:
The support member employs a composite structure combining the support layer, patterned isolation layer, and optional adhesive layers. This composite approach allows optimization of each layer's function - the isolation layer provides impact resistance through its patterned structure rather than relying solely on increased thickness, reducing manufacturing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Provided is a support member. The support member includes a support layer and an isolation layer on a first surface of the support layer; wherein the support layer has a first planar region, a bending region, and a second planar region sequentially connected along a first direction, wherein a length direction of the bending region is a second direction, the second direction being intersected with the first direction, and the support layer includes a plurality of openwork structures disposed in the bending region; the isolation layer is disposed in the first planar region, the bending region, and the second planar region, and covers the bending region; and a modulus of the isolation layer ranges from 10 GPa to 250 Gpa, and a thickness of the isolation layer is less than a thickness of the support layer.