Transparent Mold Optical Copying for Shallow Relief Embossing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional holographic embossing techniques struggle to effectively transfer deep or textured patterns with a thickness greater than 400nm onto substrates, as the quality of the product diminishes with increasing thickness, and traditional methods become cumbersome for replicating such patterns.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the creation of a transparent mold of a relief surface, using UV curable liquids or silicon resins, which is then used to map a diffraction pattern onto a photoresist surface using light sources like lasers, resulting in a shallow relief embossing shim that can be used with conventional high-speed embossing equipment to simulate deep textures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional embossing techniques are used to transfer deep patterns with thickness greater than 400nm, then the actual depth of the relief is preserved, but the product quality diminishes and the process becomes cumbersome
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a transparent mold that optically copies the deep relief pattern onto a photoresist surface using light diffraction and refraction. This optical copying process captures the visual appearance of deep textures without physically replicating the actual depth, enabling conventional embossing equipment to produce high-quality images that simulate deep reliefs while avoiding the complexity of handling actual deep patterns
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical embossing process with an optical process. Instead of physically pressing deep patterns onto material, the invention uses light sources to project diffraction patterns through a transparent mold onto photoresist, thereby substituting mechanical force with optical energy to achieve the desired pattern transfer
2Shape
If UV casting or physical brushing is used to replicate deep textures, then the texture depth greater than 400nm is achieved, but the process becomes cumbersome and equipment compatibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The transparent mold creates an optical copy of the deep relief pattern that can be used with conventional embossing equipment. The light diffraction and refraction through the mold produces an image that simulates deep textures without requiring actual depth, making the process compatible with standard high-speed embossing machinery while achieving the desired visual effect
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of relief depth from actual physical depth greater than 400nm to an optical illusion of depth achieved through light diffraction patterns. This parameter change allows the use of conventional embossing equipment with thin photoresist layers while producing images that visually simulate deep reliefs
3Ease of manufacture
If shallow relief embossing is used to maintain equipment compatibility, then the ease of manufacture improves, but the simulation of deep relief patterns becomes challenging
Solution Approach 1:
The transparent mold acts as an intermediary that translates the appearance of deep reliefs into light diffraction patterns. This intermediary device allows conventional embossing equipment to produce accurate simulations of deep textures by using optical effects rather than physical depth, thereby maintaining both equipment compatibility and depth simulation accuracy
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
Enables the simulation of deep relief patterns on film or materials without the bulk of actual depth, maintaining pattern consistency and allowing use on conventional equipment, producing shifting patterns or holograms that mimic the original relief when exposed to light.
Implementation Method 1
Mapping is created by different amounts of diffraction and refraction of the light, such as laser light/beams or other light sources producing a suitable spectrum of light, at locations corresponding to different heights of the mold
Implementation Method 2
Mapping is created by different amounts of diffraction and refraction of the light, such as laser light/beams or other light sources producing a suitable spectrum of light, at locations corresponding to different heights of the mold
Implementation Method 3
An embossing shim is made from the photoresist surface
Data Source
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AI summary
A variety of deep structured decorative patterns originate with mechanical relief or etching A deeply patterned or textured etching or relief is incorporated into a thin film embossing shim to simulate the look of the deep pattern or texture when used to emboss thin film or matepal A transparent mold of the relief surface (such as brushed metal, engine-turned patterns, and textured glass) is formed using UV curable liquid and a transparent substrate The relief copy in the transparent mold or overlay is mapped onto a photoresist surface or plate by shining or expanding one or more laser beams through the transparent mold The thin film embossing shim is then used with conventional embossing equipment to form thin film embossings The embossed thin films can then be metalized and laminated onto substrate to create shifting patterns that reflect at a variety of viewing angles when exposed to white light.