| 摘要 |
A method of forming a liquid crystal polymer layer or film includes: coating a substrate (1) with a release layer (2); coating the release layer with an alignment layer (4) capable of aligning a liquid crystal polymer layer; coating the alignment layer with a layer of a liquid crystal polymer material (3), thereby forming a liquid crystal polymer layer in which the molecules have a predetermined orientation; solidifying the layer of liquid crystal polymer eg by polymerisation by UV curing), and dissolving the release layer in a liquid which does not harm (eg dissolve) the solidified liquid crystal polymer layer to form a self supporting film. The release layer and alignment layer can be combined into a single layer, such as for example a layer of polyvinyl alcohol which may be dissolved in water. The alignment layer may be a polyurethane, polyester of polyacrylate film, which can also act as a carrier film for the liquid crystal polymer layer. Thus unsupported films, less than 20 microns (especially less than 6 microns) thick, can be produced for use a retardation plates, for example in fibre optic systems. By using a dissoluable release layer, such films readily separate from the substrate without stretching. Thicker or multi-layer films can be fabricated by using the first solidified layer of liquid crystal polymer as an alignment layer for a subsequently deposited liquid crystal polymer layer, the subsequent layer being solidified before the release layer is dissolved. Other layers of material may likewise be added. |
