JP2001151525A - Method and device for dividing glass sheet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and device for dividing glass which can increase a processing speed and improve the quality of processed end faces. SOLUTION: When a scribing line formed on the front surface of the glass sheet by a glass cutter wheel is irradiated with lasers, both sides of the scribing line are irradiated with several pairs of beam spots and these beam spot themselves are moved in synchronization with or follow up to the movement of a glass cutter preceding thereto.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for dividing a glass sheet by laser irradiation after scribing by a glass cutter wheel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 1, a glass cutter wheel 102 is moved on a glass plate 101 to form a scribe line 103, and a laser beam spot 104 is irradiated directly above the scribe line 103 by a laser. There is a processing method for dividing the plate 101.

[0003]

This processing method has the following problems. While the general scribe speed of the glass cutter wheel 102 is 300 / mm (the scribe conditions at this time are the same as those described later), the glass plate dividing speed by laser irradiation, that is, the moving speed of the beam spot, 30
Since the glass processing speed is limited to not more than mm / sec, the glass processing speed is significantly reduced. Moreover, the quality of the end face of the divided glass plate is not good.

FIG. 2 shows the generated stress in the glass plate when viewed from the cross section of the line aa ′ in FIG. 1 in the direction opposite to the traveling direction of the laser spot. When the glass plate 101 is viewed from the surface, the glass plate 101 is divided into two parts by the scribe line 103, and a vertical crack occurs from the glass surface in the thickness direction of the glass immediately below the scribe line. When the beam spot is irradiated there and the glass on the scribe line is heated at a temperature below the melting point of the glass,
The heated region tends to expand, but the glass does not melt, and as a reaction force, a compressive stress is generated to close a vertical crack immediately below the scribe line. Then, after passing through the spot, in the process of returning the glass to room temperature, a stress is generated to promote the vertical crack. As described above, with the movement of the spot, a compressive stress for closing the vertical crack is generated, and then a stress for expanding the compressive stress is generated. Therefore, it is considered that the speed at which the vertical crack is propagated is reduced as a whole.

FIG. 3 shows an end surface where the glass plate 101 is divided. A streak pattern (hackle mark 106) is generated over the entire end face. This hackle mark 1
Reference numeral 06 indicates the direction in which the locally generated cracks propagated as a pattern. Such a hackle mark 1
It is recognized in the glass industry that the occurrence of 06 is not good as a dividing surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus for dividing glass in which the processing speed can be improved and the quality of the processed end surface is improved.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method of dividing a glass plate by forming a scribe line on the surface of a glass plate by moving a glass cutter wheel and irradiating the scribe line with a laser. A plurality of pairs of beam spots are applied to both sides of the scribe line, and the scribe line is moved in synchronization with or following the preceding movement of the glass cutter.

By cooling the scribe line on the rear side of the beam spot with a refrigerant or cooling the rear of the beam spot with a refrigerant, the processing speed and processing quality are further improved.

[0009]

FIG. 4 is a front view of a glass dividing apparatus 50 according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Pedestal 1
By rotating the ball screw 2 in the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing by the motor 3, the ball screw 2 moves in the (Y) direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing along the two rows of rails 4 and 5. On the upper surface of the base 1,
A ball screw 8 is provided which is axially rotated by a guide 6 and a motor 7 in the left and right (X) directions. The ball screw 8 is the second
When the motor 7 rotates, the pedestal 9 moves in the X direction along the guide 6 when the motor 7 rotates. The θ rotation mechanism 11 is mounted on the base 9.
A table 12 is provided through the intermediary of which a glass substrate 13 is fixed by suction.

Reference numeral 14 denotes a laser oscillating unit. The laser beam oscillated here is transmitted from the lens barrel unit 15 to the support unit 16.
Led to. The support unit 16 includes a cutter wheel tip 17 at the lower right side of the barrel center axis of the lens barrel 15.
Is rotatably provided with a chip holder 18 for rotatably holding.

FIG. 5 shows the lens barrel 15 and the support unit 1.
6 shows an optical system. The horizontal beam 31 from the laser oscillating unit 14 is reflected by the mirror 3 located in the lens barrel 15.
2 and then led down by the beam expander 33
Thus, the beam is shaped into a beam having a predetermined diameter. The beam is turned horizontally by the mirror 34 and guided into the support unit 16.

The beam guided to the support unit 16 is converted by a beam splitter 35 into a straight beam 31a.
And a beam 31b whose direction is changed by 90 ° in the horizontal direction. The beam 31b is redirected downward by a mirror 36, and a cylindrical lens 37 provided in the optical path is provided.
The elliptical beam spot 38 on the glass plate 13
Is formed.

The other beam 31a is reflected by a mirror 39
The direction is turned 90 ° in the horizontal direction, and the direction is turned downward by the mirror 40. An elliptical beam spot 42 is formed on the glass plate 13 by the cylindrical lens 41 provided in the optical path. These beam spots 3
Reference numerals 8 and 42 are located behind the cutter wheel chip 17 (downstream in the direction of movement of the glass plate 13) and on both sides of the scribe line L formed by the cutter wheel chip 17, respectively.

Referring back to FIG. 4, CCD cameras 20 and 21 for photographing the alignment marks imprinted on the glass substrate 13.
The position of the alignment mark photographed in step (1) is recognized by the image recognition device, whereby the position shift of the glass substrate 13 set on the table 12 can be known. Reference numerals 22 and 23 denote monitors for displaying images captured by the CCD cameras 20 and 21.

FIG. 6 is a plan view showing the size and positional relationship of the beam spots 38 and 42. The size of each beam spot is preferably in the range of a short axis a: 0.5 mm to 10 mm, a long axis b: 10 mm to 50 mm, and an interval c1 between both beam spots: 0.5 mm to 20 mm. Note that the distance between the cutter wheel tip 17 and the beam spot may be arbitrary.

The scribing conditions were as follows: the thickness of the glass plate: 0.7 t, the cutting edge angle: 125 °, the cutting edge load: 1.4 kgf, and the beam spot was moved following the scribe speed. In this case, the temperature of the glass surface due to the irradiation of the beam is set lower than the melting point of the glass. Since the scribe lines are symmetrically spaced and irradiated with the beam spot in this way, the stress that causes the vertical cracks to spread immediately acts on the vertical cracks immediately below the scribe lines. Then, since the glass is cut at a stretch, the dividing speed is faster than that of the dividing method shown in FIG. 1, and a hackle mark as shown in FIG.

In FIG. 6, the beam spots 38 and 42 have their major axes parallel to the scribe direction. However, if the cylindrical lenses 37 and 41 are turned 90 ° with respect to the optical axis, as shown in FIG. Beam spots 38a and 42a whose short axes are parallel to the scribe direction are obtained. In this case, the distance c2 between the two beam spots is 10.5 mm to 80 mm.

If a normal condenser lens is used instead of the cylindrical lens, a circular beam spot 38b shown in FIG.
42b is obtained, and in this case, the beam diameter d is 2 mm to 25 mm.
And the distance c3 between the beam spots is 2.5 mm to 45.5 m.
m.

FIG. 9 shows an optical system for forming two pairs of beam spots with the scribe line L as a boundary. Three
6 ′ and 40 ′ are beam splitters, and the beams reflected downward here are, as in the case of FIG.
7 and 41, beam spots 38 and 42 are formed, while the beams transmitted through the beam splitters 36 'and 40' are reflected downward by mirrors 36a and 40a separately provided, and each is a column (not shown). Through the lens,
Beam spots 38 ', 42' are formed.

If a condenser lens is used instead of the cylindrical lenses 37 and 41, two pairs of circular beespots can be obtained as shown in FIG.

In the glass dividing apparatus 51 shown in FIG. 11, a water jet, He gas,
It is provided with a refrigerant nozzle 19 for blowing N ₂ gas or CO ₂ , and as shown in FIG. 12, the refrigerant is blown to the spot Q on the scribe line L on the downstream side of the beam spots 38 and 42. The coolant nozzle 19 is set.

In the glass division shown in FIG. 12, the beam spot could be moved by following the scribe speed up to 400 mm / sec under the same scribe conditions as described above.
This is considered to be due to the effect of increasing the stress that develops a vertical crack immediately below the scribe line by cooling the scribe line.

FIG. 13 shows each beam spot 38 and 4
2 is provided with refrigerant nozzles 19a and 19b for spraying a refrigerant to the downstream spots Q1 and Q2, respectively.

In the glass division shown in FIG. 13, as indicated by reference numeral 13 ', there is an effect on the division of a substrate where a stress at the time of bonding such as a substrate in which two glasses are bonded is latent.
This is because, by changing the cooling conditions, it is necessary to unbalance the stress acting on the vertical crack immediately below the scribe line.

[0025]

As described above, according to the present invention, when a laser is applied to a scribe line formed on the surface of a glass plate by a glass cutter wheel, a plurality of pairs of beam spots are formed on both sides of the scribe line. However, since the beam spot itself is moved in synchronization with or following the movement of the preceding glass cutter, the beam spot can be moved at a normal scribe speed to divide the glass plate, and the divided end face can be moved. Good quality.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a conventional glass dividing method by laser irradiation.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing generation of stress on a glass surface by laser irradiation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of a divided end surface.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing an embodiment of the glass dividing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an optical system in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the position and size of a beam spot irradiated by the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a beam spot having another shape in FIG.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a beam spot having another shape in FIG. 6;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a modification of the optical system shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a modified example of a beam spot in the apparatus shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a front view showing a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a configuration diagram of an optical system in the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 13 is a configuration diagram of an optical system including two refrigerant nozzles in the apparatus of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 pedestal 11 θ rotation mechanism 12 table 13, 13 'glass plate 14 laser oscillation unit 15 lens barrel 16 support unit 17 cutter wheel chip 18 chip holder 19 refrigerant nozzle 20, 21 CCD camera 22, 23 monitor 35 beam splitter 38, 42 Beam spot 50, 51 Glass splitting device

Continued on the front page F term (reference) 3C069 AA03 BA04 BB04 CA11 EA01 EA02 4E068 AA03 AE01 AJ03 AJ04 CD03 CE04 DA14 DB13 4G015 FA03 FA06 FB01 FC02 FC10 FC14

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method of forming a scribe line on a surface of a glass plate by moving a glass cutter wheel and irradiating the scribe line with a laser to divide the glass plate, wherein the laser is applied to both sides of the scribe line. A glass splitting method comprising: irradiating a plurality of pairs of beam spots, and moving the glass spot in synchronization with or following the preceding movement of the glass cutter. 2. A method of forming a scribe line on the surface of a glass plate by moving a glass cutter wheel and irradiating the scribe line with a laser to divide the glass plate, wherein the laser is applied to both sides of the scribe line. A glass dividing method comprising: irradiating a plurality of pairs of beam spots; moving the glass spot in synchronization with or following movement of a preceding glass cutter; and cooling a scribe line on the rear side of the beam spot with a coolant. 3. A method of forming a scribe line on a surface of a glass plate by moving a glass cutter wheel, and irradiating the scribe line with a laser to divide the glass plate, wherein the laser is applied to both sides of the scribe line. A glass splitting method comprising: irradiating a plurality of pairs of beam spots; moving the glass spot in synchronization with or following the preceding movement of the glass cutter; and cooling the rear of the beam spot with a refrigerant. 4. A glass plate dividing apparatus comprising: a table on which a glass plate is set; a table moving mechanism for moving the table; and a glass cutter wheel and laser irradiation means along a moving direction of the table. The laser irradiation means forms a plurality of pairs of beam spots on both sides of a scribe line formed on the surface of the glass sheet by the glass cutter wheel. 5. A glass plate dividing apparatus comprising: a table on which a glass plate is set; a table moving mechanism for moving the table; and a glass cutter wheel and a laser irradiating means along a moving direction of the table. The laser irradiation means forms a plurality of pairs of beam spots on both sides of the scribe line formed on the surface of the glass sheet by the glass cutter wheel, and sprays a coolant for cooling the scribe line behind the beam spots. A glass sheet dividing apparatus comprising: 6. A glass plate dividing apparatus comprising: a table on which a glass plate is set; a table moving mechanism for moving the table; and a glass cutter wheel and laser irradiation means along a moving direction of the table. The laser irradiation means includes a plurality of pairs of beam spots on both sides of a scribe line formed on the surface of the glass plate by the glass cutter wheel, and a coolant spraying means for cooling the rear of the beam spots. A glass sheet dividing apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.