JP2001337353A - Dimming body and its manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To inexpensively obtain a dimming body rich in variety such that color tone, letter and/or pattern at the time when it is transparent and color tone, letter and/or pattern at the time when light is shielded, are changed depending on the temperature change. SOLUTION: In the dimming body formed by filling the space between two transparent substrates having color tones different from each other and opposed to each other, with a thermochromic material which reversibly changes between a transparent state and an opaque state by the change of temperature, the letter and/or the pattern are formed on the surface of at least one transparent substrate.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a dimmer having a decorative effect which can be used for various transparent substrates such as interior and exterior window materials for buildings, transparent substrates for show windows and window materials for vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a light control glass to which various light control materials are applied has been known. Among them, an application in which a thermochromic material is applied to glass is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-1.
No. 81169 discloses a light-shielding window material in which a light-shielding layer is formed by laminating a polymer material having a sol-gel transition at a temperature of 0 ° C. to 80 ° C. and having different light transmittances in a sol state and a gel state on a transparent plate. JP-A-10-316453 discloses a dimmable laminated glass in which a dimming layer made of an aqueous polyvinyl acetal solution having a cloud point due to a temperature change is sandwiched between two transparent plates. Discloses a laminate in which a polymer aqueous solution or hydrogel whose light transmission changes due to a change in aggregation of molecules dissolved in water due to an increase in temperature is laminated on a substrate which can be directly viewed.

[0003]

However, those disclosed in JP-A-5-181169, JP-A-6-80446 and JP-A-10-316453 disclose a transparent and cloudy state due to a temperature change. It does not change the transparency, such as the visible light transmittance, and does not describe anything that has a decorative effect in which the color tone or pattern is changed.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has been made by forming characters and / or patterns on transparent substrates having different colors as opposed transparent substrates. The purpose is to provide inexpensively a variety of dimmers that change the color tone when transparent, the color tone when designing and shading, and the design when reversibly changing between transparent and cloudy due to temperature changes. And

That is, the dimmer of the present invention is filled with a thermochromic material, which is reversibly changed between a transparent state and a cloudy state due to a temperature change, between two opposing transparent substrates having different color tones. The dimmer according to the present invention is characterized in that letters and / or patterns are formed on the surface of at least one transparent substrate.

Further, the dimmer according to the present invention is characterized in that, when the thermochromic material changes to a transparent state or a cloudy state due to a change in temperature, the characters and / or patterns appear to rise. Features.

Further, the dimmer of the present invention is characterized in that characters and / or patterns are formed by a colored film.

Further, a method of forming a light control body of the present invention is characterized in that the light control body is manufactured by the following steps. Forming a character and / or pattern on the surface of at least one of the transparent substrates; A step of sealing the peripheral portion between the substrates with a sealing material to leave a portion where the chromic material is injected, and forming a gap; and a step of completely sealing the peripheral portion after filling the gap with a thermochromic material.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The dimmer of the present invention can be produced, for example, by the following steps. Forming a character and / or pattern on the surface of at least one of the transparent substrates; A step of sealing the peripheral portion between the substrates with a sealing material to leave a portion where the chromic material is injected, and forming a gap; and a step of completely sealing the peripheral portion after filling the gap with a thermochromic material.

As the thermochromic material used in the present invention, a thermochromic material capable of reversibly changing between a transparent state and a cloudy state with a change in temperature is used. The thermochromic material is an isotropic aqueous solution of a nonionic surfactant or a nonionic water-soluble polymer that exhibits a cloud point phenomenon due to aggregation or dispersion, and is in a liquid or wet gel state.
Specifically, a polysaccharide derivative having a hydroxypropyl group such as hydroxypropylcellulose, methylcellulose, or the like can be used. In particular, a water-soluble polymer having a hydroxypropyl group has a high degree of aggregation at high temperatures, and thus has excellent light-shielding properties in cloudy conditions.Hydroxypropylcellulose is relatively inexpensive and easily available, and also has weather resistance. It is preferred. In order to control the temperature at which the thermochromic material changes state, it is also effective to add an electrolyte such as sodium chloride.
Thereby, the temperature at which the state changes (from transparent to cloudy) can be shifted to a lower temperature side. The temperature can also be controlled by adjusting the concentration of the electrolyte. In addition,
The thermochromic material is not limited to a form such as a film or a liquid.

The dimmer of the present invention forms characters and / or patterns on the surface of at least one of the transparent substrates, and may be formed by a screen printing method, a dipping method, a flexographic printing method, a transfer method, or the like. It is preferable to design letters and / or patterns made of a colored film on the glass substrate surface by the various printing methods described above. The letters and / or patterns may be on one side of the glass or on both sides of the glass, and in the case of both sides, the same letters and / or patterns may be designed on both sides, or both may be different designs. it can. The type of the colored film is not particularly limited.For example, a silica sol, a coating solution obtained by mixing an organic pigment dispersion and a diluting solvent is formed by a dip method,
An organic pigment coloring film, a low melting glass frit made by baking, a paste mixed with a coloring pigment, a resin and a solvent are formed into a film by screen printing, and then baked, a low melting frit coloring film, chromium nitrate, copper nitrate, manganese nitrate Echinene and TEO were added to a liquid obtained by mixing a predetermined amount of 1,4-butanediol.
It is possible to use a gray colored film produced by printing a coating liquid in which S (tetraethoxysilane) and water are mixed by a flexographic printing method and firing it, and in particular, a colored film produced by a low melting point frit method is used. In the case where the temperature of the thermochromic material rises and becomes cloudy, it is preferable because characters and / or patterns emerge more clearly. Also, the color of the colored film is not particularly limited, but it is preferable to form a character and / or a pattern having a colored film having a complementary color relationship with the color tone of glass from the viewpoint of a decorative effect.
In addition, the color of the colored film is blue, green, pink,
Various color tones such as gold and silver can be used, but depending on the case, they may be colorless or transparent.

The decorative effect may be such that when the temperature of the thermochromic material, which will be described later, rises and the character and / or pattern rises when the thermochromic material becomes cloudy, the thermochromic material may be cooled to room temperature in some cases. When the thermochromic material is opaque, the opacity acts as a reflector, so that a more specific decorative effect can be obtained. Note that the characters and / or patterns may be raised as described above.
Alternatively, it can be appropriately selected according to the purpose, such as a state in which the pattern is recessed in the back. Further, the characters and / or patterns are not particularly limited in size, shape, design, and the like. The transparent substrate is not limited to glass, and transparent plastic can be used, and the color, shape, size, and the like are not particularly limited.

Next, it is necessary to seal the periphery of the transparent substrate before filling the thermochromic material between the transparent substrates facing each other. As the sealing material, it is necessary to select a material that suppresses evaporation or volatilization of the solvent of the filled thermochromic material, has good adhesiveness to the substrate, and satisfies these conditions for a long period of time under actual use conditions. For example, a butyl tape (TB-240 manufactured by Kyoritsu Chemical Co., Ltd.) formed in a belt shape can be used as the inner seal material, and thiocol can be used as the outer seal material. Dimming body of the present invention, window material for building, partition material, window material for vehicles, etc.
In addition, it can be used as a decoration for various uses such as industrial use.

[0014]

The present invention will be described below in detail with reference to examples.

Example 1 (1) Preparation of Glass Substrate with Colored Letters The glass substrate 1 with colored letters made of color ceramics used in the present invention was prepared in the following procedure. Low melting glass frit 50-98%, coloring pigment 2-50%
Then, 3 to 10% of a resin and 10 to 20% of a solvent are kneaded with 100% of frit and pigment to obtain a paste-like colored film material. Next, as shown in FIG. 1, a colored letter 3 composed of a colored film is printed on the surface of a glass substrate 2 (green tempered glass having a thickness of 3.5 mm) by a screen printing method, and dried at about 120 ° C. in a drying furnace. , Firing (forming)
It was baked in a furnace at about 620 to 670 ° C., and a colored character 3 consisting of blue was printed.

A black frame 4 is printed on the peripheral surface of the glass substrate 2 by screen printing using a paste made of a low-melting glass frit, a coloring pigment, a solvent, and a resin for the purpose of concealing a sealing material 7 described later. By firing, the black frame 4 was baked.

(2) Production of light control body As shown in FIG. 2, the light control body 5 of this embodiment is a glass substrate with a character on which a colored character 3 made of the blue colored film prepared in the above (1) is printed. 1 and a glass substrate 6 (3.5 mm thick gray reinforced glass) not printed are opposed to each other, and the periphery is sealed with a sealing material 7 (SM8000 made by Yokohama Rubber Co.), and then a thermochromic material 8 (Nippon Soda) (A 20% by weight aqueous solution of hydroxypropylcellulose HPC-L manufactured by Nissan Co., Ltd.) was filled in the gap between the glass substrates 1 and 6.

(3) Appearance The dimmer 5 produced as described above is transparent at normal temperature, and is applied to the surface of the green glass 2 by a mixed color of the glass substrate 1 with a green character and the glass substrate 6 of a gray color. Although the colored character 3 composed of the designed blue colored film is not so clear, when the dimmer 5 is heated to a temperature of 52 ° C. or more,
Although the thermochromic material 8 becomes cloudy and loses transparency and is in a light-shielding state, it functions as a reflector. When the dimmer 5 is viewed from the side of the glass substrate 1 with characters, the thermochromic material 8 becomes cloudy. The blue color of the colored character 3 is vividly emerged, is completely invisible when viewed from the other glass substrate 6 side, and the other places are not transparent and are in a light-shielded state, which is a very unique decorative effect. was gotten.

Example 2 Compared with Example 1, the same method as in Example 1 was used except that a clear glass substrate on which white colored characters were printed with a white ceramic paste was used. An optical body was made. This dimmer is transparent at room temperature, and the colored characters designed white are clearly visible. However, when the dimmer is heated to a temperature of 52 ° C. or more, the thermochromic material 8 becomes cloudy and acts as a reflector. When the light control body was viewed from the glass substrate side with the characters, it was observed that the white light became almost invisible because the light control body became cloudy.

Example 3 (1) Production of Glass Substrate with Colored Pattern The glass substrate used in the present invention was produced by the following procedure. Methoxysilane oligomer (MS-5 manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation)
1) A predetermined amount of a 1% aqueous nitric acid solution and ethanol were mixed, stirred at room temperature for 4 hours, and then aged for 12 hours. The amount of water to be added was 2 mol per 1 mol of the silica component in the oligomer, and the silica concentration in the sol was 16 wt%. An organic pigment dispersion (Fuji Dye) is added to this silica sol.
And the dilution solvent (ethanol) were respectively 1: 3: 6
To obtain a coating liquid for a colored film. As the coating liquid, two kinds of liquids, a liquid in which phthalocyanine blue as a blue organic pigment was dispersed and a liquid in which diketopyrrolopyrrole red (pink) as a red organic pigment was dispersed were prepared.

In the glass substrate with a colored pattern, one of the clear glass substrates is patterned into a blue square with a blue dispersion, and the other clear glass substrate partially overlaps the blue square with the red dispersion. The red square was patterned as follows. The colored pattern was formed by a dipping method on a clear glass substrate in which the periphery of the pattern was masked with a curing film, and then formed at 300 to 400 ° C.
To produce glass substrates with respective colored patterns. The environment at the time of film formation is 25 ° C., 40 to 60%,
The substrate lifting speed was 2 to 12 mm / s. In addition,
As the pigment, phthalocyanine green (green) or the like can be used for other purposes.

(2) Preparation of light control body The light control body of this embodiment is a glass substrate in which a blue pigment coloring film is patterned into a square shape on one clear glass substrate, and a red pigment is formed on the other clear glass substrate. It was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a colored film patterned so that the positions of the squares partially overlap was used. When the dimmer was heated to 52 ° C. or higher, the thermochromic material became cloudy and acted as a reflector, and only the squares of the respective colored films were observed. On the other hand, at room temperature, the light control body became transparent, and a pattern in which squares partially overlapped was observed. At this time, the overlapping portions of the squares appeared purple because the blue and red colors of the colored film were mixed.

Example 4 (1) Production of a Glass Substrate with a Colored Pattern The glass substrate on which an organic pigment colored film used in the present invention was patterned was produced in the following procedure. The coating liquid used in Example 3 was printed with a stripe pattern on each of two clear glass substrates by flexographic printing,
It was produced by heat treatment at 300 to 400 ° C.

(2) Production of light control body The light control body of the present embodiment is a glass substrate in which a blue vertical stripe is printed on one glass substrate and a red horizontal stripe is printed on an opposing glass substrate. Except for using, was prepared in the same manner as in Example 1. This dimmer is transparent at normal temperature, and the color is visible in a lattice pattern. However, when heated to 52 ° C. or higher, the thermochromic material becomes cloudy and acts as a reflector, and the thermochromic material acts as a reflector. Looking at the dimmer, vertical blue stripes were observed, and when viewed from the opposite side, red horizontal stripes were observed, and a unique decorative effect was obtained.

Example 5 (1) Production of a Glass Substrate with a Colored Pattern The glass substrate used in the present invention was produced by the following procedure. A solution obtained by mixing a predetermined amount of chromium nitrate, copper nitrate, manganese nitrate, and 1,4-butanediol was stirred at 80 ° C. for 30 minutes, and then echinene, TEOS (tetraethoxysilane), water (TEOS: water = 1: 6) ) Was added thereto, and the mixture was further stirred at 80 ° C. for 30 minutes to prepare a coating liquid for flexographic printing. After forming a pattern on the surface of the clear glass substrate by a flexographic printing method by a film removing method, drying at 350 to 450 ° C. for 10 minutes, 750
A heat treatment was performed at ８００800 ° C. for 3 to 5 minutes to prepare a glass substrate having an ink painting pattern having a gray colored film. Note that, on the other glass substrate, a colored film was formed on the entire surface of the clear glass substrate using the same liquid.

(2) Production of light control body The light control body of this embodiment uses a glass substrate in which a pattern is printed on one of the clear glass substrates by flexographic printing and the same color is applied to the other clear glass substrate. A light modulating body was produced in the same manner as in Example 1 except that a glass substrate provided with a film was used. This dimmer is transparent at room temperature and the patterned pattern cannot be seen clearly,
When heated to 52 ° C. or more, the thermochromic material became cloudy and acted as a reflector, and the pattern-extracted portion emerged white and was clearly visible, and a unique decorative effect was obtained.

[0027]

According to the present invention, by printing colored characters and / or patterns on the surface of various transparent substrates having different color tones, the thermochromic material reversibly changes between a transparent state and a cloudy state depending on the temperature. In this case, there is an advantage that a dimmer having a variety of reflection color tones with different color tones when transparent and colors and designs when shading are different can be manufactured at low cost.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a top view of a glass substrate with characters of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of the light control body of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Glass substrate with a character 2 Glass substrate 3 Colored character 4 Black frame 5 Light control body 6 Glass substrate 7 Sealing material 8 Thermochromic material

──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) // C09K 9/02 C09K 9/02 C (72) Inventor Shinichi Kita 1510 Oguchicho, Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture Central Glass Co., Ltd. Production Research Laboratory F-term (reference) 4F100 AG00 AK01 BA03 BA06 BA10A BA10B CA13 EA061 EC182 EH132 EH31C EH312 EJ162 EJ952 GB07 GB41 HB00A HB31 JB20C JL10A JL10B JM02A JM02B JN01AJAB12 JN01AJB12 CB16 CC00 CD02 CD14 CD20 CD25 5C096 AA11 BA01 BA03 BC04 BC15 CA02 CA13 CA14 CA28 CA29 CB07 CE02 CJ11 DC02 DC04 DC05 DC19 EA01 EB01 FA01 FA02 FA11

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A dimming body in which a thermochromic material which is reversibly changed between a transparent state and a cloudy state by a temperature change is filled between two opposing transparent substrates having different color tones. A light control body, wherein characters and / or patterns are formed on the surface of one of the transparent substrates. 2. The character and / or pattern according to claim 1, wherein when the thermochromic material changes to a transparent state or a cloudy state due to a temperature change, the character and / or pattern appears to rise. Dimmer. 3. The dimmer according to claim 1, wherein the characters and / or patterns are formed by a colored film. 4. A method for manufacturing a light control body, comprising manufacturing a light control body by the following steps. Forming a character and / or pattern on the surface of at least one of the transparent substrates; A step of forming a gap by sealing a peripheral portion between the substrates with a sealing material except for a portion where the chromic material is injected, and a step of completely sealing the peripheral portion after filling the gap with a thermochromic material.