Flexible Thin Glass Radius Cutting With Laser-Cooling Fracture Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for cutting thin flexible glass into complex shapes with tight dimensional tolerances and high edge strength are inadequate, particularly for applications in flexible electronics, as they often result in low edge quality, increased manufacturing failures, and high production costs due to thermal buckling and mechanical deformation.
Innovation Solution
A laser cutting technique that propagates an initiation flaw in the glass sheet using a CO2 laser beam in conjunction with a cooling fluid, allowing for continuous full separation of thin glass sheets into free-form shapes with high edge strength, reducing crack propagation defects and eliminating the need for mechanical snapping and subsequent polishing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional mechanical scoring and breaking techniques are used to cut thin flexible glass, then the cutting process can be performed, but the edge quality and strength are insufficient, generating glass particles and manufacturing failures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical scoring and breaking techniques with a laser-based cutting system. The laser beam melts and vaporizes the glass material along the cutting path, eliminating mechanical contact that causes edge damage, glass particles, and manufacturing failures. This substitution directly addresses the contradiction by improving edge quality and reliability simultaneously.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes controlled thermal parameters (laser power, scanning speed, focal position) to achieve precise cutting of thin flexible glass. By adjusting these parameters, the system can cut glass as thin as 0.02 mm while maintaining high edge strength and quality, resolving the contradiction between mechanical cutting limitations and required manufacturing precision.
2Ease of manufacture
If laser scoring followed by mechanical breaking is used for glass cutting, then the cutting process can be completed, but thermal buckling and mechanical deformation occur, particularly for glass sheets less than 0.2 mm thick
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs a continuous laser cutting process that completely eliminates the mechanical breaking step. The laser beam cuts through the entire thickness of the glass sheet in one continuous operation, preventing thermal buckling and mechanical deformation that occur in two-step processes. This resolves the contradiction by maintaining ease of manufacture while improving dimensional tolerances.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a continuous laser cutting process where the laser beam continuously traverses the cutting path without interruption. This continuous action eliminates the intermediate mechanical breaking step, preventing deformation and buckling while maintaining manufacturing efficiency. The process achieves both ease of manufacture and high dimensional precision.
3Strength
If conventional cutting methods are used for thin flexible glass, then the glass can be cut into shapes, but additional polishing and finishing steps are required to improve edge strength
Solution Approach 1:
The laser cutting process creates clean, precise edges through controlled melting and vaporization, eliminating the need for subsequent polishing and finishing steps. The direct laser cutting achieves high edge strength (greater than 150 MPa) without requiring additional mechanical processing, thus reducing device complexity while improving edge strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The laser cutting process is self-finishing, creating high-quality edges directly during the cutting operation. The controlled thermal process produces smooth, strong edges that require no additional polishing or finishing steps, eliminating process complexity while achieving the desired edge strength.
4Productivity
If mechanical snapping is used to separate glass substrates, then the cutting can be completed, but crack propagation defects occur and yield decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical snapping with a laser cutting process that separates glass substrates through controlled thermal melting and vaporization. This eliminates mechanical stress that causes crack propagation defects, thereby improving both production yield and reliability. The laser process creates clean separations without the defects associated with mechanical breaking.
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 method achieves high edge strength greater than 150 MPa, reduces production costs, increases yield, and simplifies the cutting process by eliminating the need for finishing steps, while improving precision and consistency, and enabling the cutting of glass sheets as thin as 0.02 mm with optimized curvature radii.
Implementation Method 1
applying a laser beam to the glass sheet starting at the flaw and continuously moving the laser beam and the glass sheet relative to one another along the cutting line to elevate a temperature of the glass sheet at the cutting line
Implementation Method 2
applying a cooling fluid simultaneously with the application of the laser beam, such that the cooling fluid at least reduces the temperature of the glass sheet in order to propagate a fracture in the glass sheet along the cutting line
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and apparatus provide for: cutting a thin glass sheet along a curved cutting line, where the curve is divided into a plurality of line segments; applying a laser beam and continuously moving the laser beam along the cutting line; applying a cooling fluid simultaneously with the application of the laser beam in order to propagate a fracture in the glass sheet along the cutting line; and varying one or more cutting parameters as the laser beam moves from one of the plurality of line segments to a next one of the plurality of line segments, wherein the one or more cutting parameters include at least one of: (i) a power of the laser beam, (ii) a speed of the movement, (iii) a pressure of the cooling fluid, and (iv) a flow rate of the cooling fluid.