JP2006231122A - Blade application apparatus and blade application method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a blade application apparatus and a blade application method which prevent the mixing of air into a coating liquid, suppress the waste of the coating liquid to be applied and consequently achieve efficient application. <P>SOLUTION: The blade application apparatus is provided with: a coating liquid supply part for supplying the coating liquid; a mask member having an opening formed to expose the upper surface of a flat substrate when the mask member is arranged on the flat substrate; and a long sized applying member arranged in the upper surface side of the mask member and for applying the coating liquid supplied by being driven in parallel to the exposed flat substrate from the opening. A groove part for storing the excess coating liquid and a recovery liquid sending part for recovering the coating liquid stored in the groove part and sending the recovered coating liquid to the coating liquid supply part are provided on the mask member. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a blade coating apparatus and a blade coating method for coating a coating liquid on a flat substrate.

  Conventionally, roll coating, gravure coating, and extrusion coating are known as coating methods for coating a coating solution on a flat substrate.

  Further, as a coating method for coating a coating solution on a flat substrate, a blade coating method as shown in Patent Document 1 below is known.

  In the conventional blade coating apparatus shown in FIG. 5, the flat substrate 4 is disposed so as to overlap the lower surface of the mask 2, and the flat substrate 4 is exposed from the opening 7 formed in the mask 2 and supported. Then, the coating liquid is supplied onto the mask 2, and the long blade 5 is moved in the direction of the arrow on the upper surface of the mask 2, so that the coating liquid is scratched and applied to the coated surface of the flat substrate exposed from the opening 4. By depositing the liquid, a coating layer made of the coating liquid is formed on the flat substrate 4. In the case where the flat substrate 4 is a disk-shaped disk substrate such as an optical disk, for example, a central opening is formed at the center of the substrate, so that the coating liquid does not adhere to the central opening and its peripheral edge during the coating process. A center cap 3 is attached. After coating, the flat substrate 4 is separated from the mask 2 to obtain the flat substrate 4 having a coating layer.

  For example, such a coating method has been applied as a means for forming a printing surface on a substrate by blade coating in a manufacturing process of a magnetic recording medium having a disk-shaped substrate.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-220966

  FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view showing a coating process in a conventional coating method. As shown in FIG. 6A, when the coating liquid 103 is scraped off by the blade 102 and moved on the opening 101a of the mask 101, the coating liquid 103 is applied to the area exposed on the disk D from the opening 101a. At the same time, the coating liquid 103 overflowing without being filled in the opening 101 a is pushed to the edge of the mask 101 by the blade 102. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 6B, when the blade 102 is folded back and forth on the mask 101, the blade 102 is lifted and moved to the opposite side across the overflowed coating solution 103. At this time, since the coating liquid 103 adheres to the lower end portion of the blade 102, when the blade 102 moves on the coating liquid 103, the adhered coating liquid 103 is stretched to the blade 102, and becomes a thin film. It is attached so as to cover it (see FIG. 6C). At this time, as shown in FIG. 6D, air is mixed between the thin film-like coating liquid adhering to the blade 102 and the coating liquid 103 deposited on the mask 101, and bubbles 103 a are generated in the coating liquid 103. Sometimes. When the bubbles 103a are mixed in the coating layer of the disk D, there is room for improvement in that the coating surface cannot be satisfactorily applied, such as unevenness on the coating surface.

  Further, in the above coating method, it is inevitable that the excess coating liquid 103 is partially scraped to the outside of the drive region of the blade 102, resulting in a coating liquid that is not used for subsequent coating, There was room for improvement in that the efficiency of the amount of coating solution used was limited.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a blade coating apparatus and a blade coating method capable of preventing air from being mixed into the coating liquid and efficiently using the coating liquid. There is to do.

  The above object of the present invention is a blade coating apparatus for forming a coating layer by applying a coating solution to a flat substrate, in a state where the coating solution is supplied to the coating substrate and the flat substrate, A mask member having an opening for exposing the upper surface of the planar substrate, and the mask member disposed on the upper surface side of the mask member and driven in parallel to the upper surface, the supplied coating liquid is supplied to the opening. An elongated coating member that is applied to the planar substrate exposed from the groove, a groove portion that stores excess coating liquid in the mask member, and a coating solution that is stored in the groove portion is collected to the coating liquid supply portion. This is achieved by a blade coating device characterized in that a recovery liquid delivery section is provided.

  Further, the object of the present invention is to dispose the coating member provided on the upper surface side of the mask member in a state where the mask member is disposed on the planar substrate and the planar substrate is exposed from the opening of the mask member. A blade coating method in which the coating liquid supplied from the coating liquid supply unit is applied to the flat substrate exposed from the opening to form a coating layer, and the opening is not filled. And a step of storing the excess coating liquid in the groove, and a step of recovering the coating liquid stored in the groove by a recovery liquid delivery section and sending it to the coating liquid supply section. The

  According to the present invention, when coating is performed, it is possible to drop and store excess coating liquid remaining on the mask member without filling the opening. In this way, when the coating member is driven on the mask member, excess coating liquid is accommodated in the groove, so that the air is attached to the coating member and stretched along with the movement of the coating member. It can prevent mixing. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects such as irregularities on the surface of the coating layer formed on the flat substrate, and good coating can be performed. Further, since the coating liquid stored in the groove is collected and sent to the coating liquid supply section, it is possible to avoid the coating liquid being scraped out of the drive region of the coating member, and to effectively use the coating liquid. it can.

  In the blade coating device, it is preferable that the groove is provided at a folding position of the coating member in a state where the coating member is driven to reciprocate. If it carries out like this, when apply | coating a reciprocating drive of an application | coating member with respect to opening of a mask member, it can be made to store by dropping an application liquid in a groove part in the return position of an application | coating member. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the excessive coating liquid from being stretched following the movement of the coating member in a state where the coating liquid adheres to the coating member, and to prevent air from being mixed into the coating liquid.

  In the blade coating apparatus, it is preferable that the recovered liquid delivery unit has a pump unit. If it carries out like this, the coating liquid collect | recovered from the groove part can be circulated to a coating liquid supply part by a pump part, and the flow of the coating liquid at the time of application | coating can be made smooth. Thus, waste of the coating liquid can be eliminated, and the coating liquid can be efficiently recovered and re-supplied.

  In the blade coating method of the present invention, it is preferable that the coating member is reciprocally driven on the mask member, and excess coating liquid is stored in the groove portion at the turn-back position of the reciprocating drive. In this way, in the step of reciprocating the coating member, the coating member can be stored by dropping the coating solution into the groove at the turn-back position of the coating member, so that the coating member remains attached to the coating member. It is possible to prevent the air from being mixed into the coating liquid by being stretched by the above.

  In the blade coating method of the present invention, the coating liquid is preferably supplied from the groove. In this way, it is not necessary to supply the coating liquid onto the mask member, and the coating liquid supplied onto the mask member comes into contact with the coating member as in the prior art, so that the driving coating member contacts with the mask member. Thus, it does not adhere to the application member.

  Furthermore, by applying the present invention and applying the coating liquid to a disc-shaped recording medium to form at least one of the printed surfaces, the printed surface can be made a good surface free from irregularities and the like. The waste of the coating liquid used for constituting the printing surface can be eliminated, and the printing surface can be formed efficiently.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, while being able to prevent that air mixes in a coating liquid, the blade coating device and blade coating method which can use a coating liquid efficiently can be provided.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a blade coating apparatus and a blade coating method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a blade coating apparatus according to the present embodiment. FIGS. 2A to 2C are cross-sectional views illustrating the coating process. FIGS. 3A to 3D are cross-sectional views illustrating the procedure according to the present invention in the coating process. 4 (a) to 4 (c) are cross-sectional views illustrating another procedure according to the present invention in the coating process.

  The blade coating apparatus 10 forms a coating layer by coating a coating liquid on the surface of a planar substrate that is a member to be coated. In this embodiment, a disk-shaped recording medium (hereinafter also referred to as a disk) is used as an example of a planar substrate. And D is a member to be coated.

  The blade coating device 10 includes a mask member 11 that is a thin plate-like member, and the mask member 11 is formed with a circular opening 11a in a top view.

  Further, the blade coating device 10 is provided with a substrate support portion 14 that can support the disk D by placing it on an upper support base and can move relative to the mask member 11. When the substrate support portion 14 is positioned above, the substrate D is pressed against the lower side of the opening 11a of the mask member 11 and holds the disc D in this state. Thus, the mask member 11 is disposed on the disk D.

  In the present embodiment, the opening 11a is formed in a circular shape having a diameter of about 120 mm. Note that the shape of the opening 11a can be made to match the shape of the coating layer formed on the disk D, and the shape of the coating layer can be freely set by appropriately changing the opening shape of the mask member 11. it can.

  Further, when the substrate support unit 14 is moved to a lower position, the disk D of the substrate support unit 14 is taken out by a robot arm or the like (not shown) and carried to the downstream side of the transport system, and the substrate support unit 14 is coated. Another disk D to which no liquid is applied can be placed. In the present embodiment, the substrate support portion 14 is moved relative to the mask member 11, but the mask member 11 may be moved relative to the substrate support portion 14.

  A long coating member (blade) 12 is provided on the upper surface (upper surface in FIG. 1) side of the mask member 11 at a position slightly separated from the upper surface. The application member 12 is configured to be driven in parallel to the surface direction of the upper surface, as indicated by an arrow in FIG. Specifically, the application member 12 is configured to be driven in parallel to the xy plane shown in FIG. In addition, the application member 12 may be configured to be appropriately drivable in the z direction.

  The material of the coating member 51 is preferably a chromium content that is equal to or greater than the chromium content of SUS316, and this further improves the wear resistance, corrosion resistance, heat resistance, and releasability. Can be made.

  Next, the procedure for forming the coating layer on the disk will be described. As shown in FIG. 2A, the disk D is placed flat on the substrate support portion 14 in a state of being separated from the mask member 11. At this time, it arrange | positions in the board | substrate support part 14 in the state which turned the to-be-coated side in the disk D to the upper surface.

  By relatively moving the substrate support portion 14 and the mask member 11, the disk D is held in a state of being pressed below the opening 11 a of the mask member 11 as shown in FIG. At this time, the outer peripheral end of the disk D contacts the lower part of the opening 11a, and the upper surface of the disk D is exposed upward from the opening 11a. The area on the disc D exposed from the opening 11a is the application area.

  As shown in FIG. 2B, a center cap 13 for preventing the coating liquid from being attached is attached to the center opening of the disk D in a state where the mask member 11 is disposed on the disk D. The center cap 13 is sucked and held by a suction portion of a center cap attaching / detaching arm (not shown), and is attached to the center opening of the disk D from above the opening 11a.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (c), the coating member 12 is driven in a slight gap above the mask member 11 and parallel to the surface direction (the direction indicated by the arrow in the figure), and the coating supplied in advance. The liquid 16 is spread on the side surface of the application member 12. As a result, the coating liquid 16 is thinly spread on the mask member 11 and filled in the opening 11a, and is applied to the coated area on the upper surface of the disk D exposed from the opening 11a. By drying after the coating process, the coating liquid 16 applied to the disk D is cured and a coating layer is formed.

  In the present embodiment, the application member 12 is driven to reciprocate in the linear direction above the opening 11a of the mask member 11, but is not limited thereto.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the mask member 11 has grooves 15 formed on both sides of the opening 11 a with respect to the driving method of the application member 12. The groove portion 15 has a shape that is recessed downward from the upper surface of the mask member 11 so that an excessive coating liquid in the mask member 11 can be stored. Moreover, the groove part 15 is formed in parallel with the longitudinal direction of the application member 12, and it is comprised so that at least one part of the lower end part of the application member 12 can be inserted in the inner side. In this embodiment, each groove part 15 is provided in the folding | turning position of the both ends side of the drive area | region of the application member 12 to reciprocately drive.

  The groove part 15 should just be formed in one of the folding | turning positions in the both ends of the drive area | region of the application member 12. FIG. Moreover, the groove part 15 should just be formed in either of the drive area | regions of the application | coating member 12, and the number and shape can be suitably changed in the range which can show | play the effect of this invention.

  In the present embodiment, the coating liquid 13 is supplied from the coating liquid supply unit 22 to the upper surface of the mask member 11. The position where the coating liquid 13 is supplied is within the drive region of the coating member 12, and in this embodiment, is between each of the folding positions of the coating member 12 and the opening 11 a.

  Note that the coating solution 13 may be supplied from each groove 15. Although not shown, a supply pipe that communicates with the inside of the groove 15 may be provided, the supply pipe may be connected to the coating liquid supply section 22, and the coating liquid may be sent to the groove 15 through the supply pipe during coating.

  The blade coating apparatus 10 may include a blade driving unit 23 that controls driving of the coating member 12 and a control unit 21 that can control the blade driving unit 23. Further, the coating liquid supply unit 22 may be connected to the control unit 21, and the driving of the coating member 12 and the supply of the coating liquid 16 may be linked by the control unit 21.

  The blade coating device 10 can store the excess coating liquid 16 that has not been filled in the opening 11a in the groove 15 during coating.

Next, with reference to FIG. 3, the procedure for storing the coating liquid in the groove will be described.
As shown in FIG. 3A, a part of the coating liquid 16 is filled in the opening 11a of the mask member 11 by the coating member 12, and the remainder is not filled in the opening 11a, so that the excess coating liquid 16a is filled. It becomes.

  As shown in FIG. 3 (b), the coating member 12 is further scraped to the upper surface side of the coating member 11, and the coating member 12 is driven to the vicinity of the upper portion of the groove portion 15, so that the excess coating liquid 16 drops into the groove portion 15. Is included. As shown in FIG. 3C, in a state where the application member 12 is positioned on the groove portion 15, the coating liquid 16 attached to the application member 12 hangs down on the groove portion 15 due to its own weight.

  As shown in FIG. 3 (d), when the upper portion of the groove portion 15 is driven and passed, the excess coating liquid 16 is stored in the groove portion 15 and separated without being stretched by the application member 12.

  As the dimensions of the groove portion 15, the width W of the groove can be in the range of 10 mm to 50 mm, and the depth d of the groove can be in the range of 5 mm to 25 mm.

  The blade coating apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment has a configuration in which excess coating liquid 16a stored in the groove 15 is used as a coating liquid used in the subsequent coating process. Excess coating liquid 16a stored in the groove 15 may be discharged from the mask member 11 through a collection pipe (not shown) or may be sent to the coating liquid supply section 22 via a reflux pipe. In the present embodiment, the circulating system for circulating the coating liquid 16a may be configured such that a strainer, a filter, and a defoaming device are provided in the circulating pipe. Examples of the defoaming device include membrane deaeration (porous membrane), centrifugal deaeration (cyclone), and the like.

Next, with reference to FIG. 4, a procedure for collecting and delivering the coating solution stored in the groove will be described.
As shown in FIG. 4 (a), the coating liquid 16 b stored in the groove 15 is collected by the collection liquid delivery unit 24. Then, as shown in FIG. 4B, the coating liquid collected from the collected liquid sending unit 24 is sent to the nozzle unit 17 of the coating liquid supply unit 22. Then, at the time of application, the coating liquid 16c is supplied from the nozzle portion 17 to the upper surface of the mask member 11, and as shown in FIG. 4C, the coating liquid 16c is scratched by the application member 12 to fill the opening 11a. The coating liquid 16c is applied to the coated area of the disk D.

  The recovered liquid delivery unit 24 is preferably provided with a pump unit that can suck and collect the coating liquid stored in the groove 15 and send the collected coating liquid to the coating liquid supply unit 22 at a predetermined pressure.

  The blade coating apparatus 10 of the present embodiment can drop and store the excess coating liquid 16 remaining on the mask member 11 without filling the opening 11a when coating. In this way, when the coating member 12 is driven on the mask member 11, the excess coating liquid 16 a is accommodated in the groove portion 15, so that it adheres to the coating member 12 and moves along with the movement of the coating member 12. It is possible to prevent air from being mixed in by being stretched. For this reason, since the surplus coating liquid 16 in which air is not mixed is used for the subsequent coating, it is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects such as irregularities on the surface of the coating layer formed on the disk D, and good coating. It can be performed.

  Further, in the blade coating device 10 of the present embodiment, the coating liquid 16 stored in the groove 15 is collected by the collected liquid sending section 24 and sent to the coating liquid supply section 22, so that the coating liquid is outside the drive region of the coating member 12. Can be avoided and the coating liquid 16 can be used effectively.

  If the groove portion 15 is provided at the folding position of the coating member 12 in a state in which the coating member 12 is driven to reciprocate as in the present embodiment, the coating member with respect to the opening 11a of the mask member 11 is used. When coating is performed by reciprocally driving 12, the coating liquid 16 can be stored by dropping into the groove 15 at the turn-back position of the coating member 12. For this reason, it is possible to prevent the excess coating liquid 16a from adhering to the movement of the coating member 12 in a state where the coating liquid 16a is attached to the coating member 12, and the air is mixed into the coating liquid 16. Can be prevented.

  If the recovered liquid delivery part 24 has a pump part, the application liquid 16 recovered from the groove part 15 can be circulated to the application liquid supply part 22 by the pump part, and the flow of the application liquid during application is made smooth. be able to. Thus, waste of the coating liquid can be eliminated, and the coating liquid can be efficiently recovered and re-supplied.

  By applying the present invention to the disk-shaped recording medium and applying the coating liquid to form at least one layer of the printed surface, the coating can be performed so that a good surface state without defects such as irregularities can be obtained. The waste of the coating solution used for constituting the printing surface can be eliminated.

It is a figure explaining the structure of a blade coating device. It is sectional drawing explaining an application | coating process. It is sectional drawing explaining the procedure which concerns on this invention in an application | coating process. It is sectional drawing explaining another procedure which concerns on this invention in an application | coating process. It is a figure which shows the conventional blade coating device. It is sectional drawing which shows the application | coating process in the conventional application | coating system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Coating apparatus 11 Mask member 12 Coating member 15 Groove part 16 Coating liquid 22 Coating liquid supply part 24 Collected liquid sending part D Disk (planar substrate)

Claims (7)

A blade coating apparatus for forming a coating layer by coating a coating solution on a flat substrate,
A coating solution supply section for supplying the coating solution;
A mask member in which an opening for exposing the upper surface of the planar substrate is formed in a state of being disposed on the planar substrate;
An elongated coating member that is disposed on the upper surface side of the mask member and is driven in parallel with the upper surface to apply the supplied coating liquid to the planar substrate exposed from the opening; Prepared,
A blade coating apparatus comprising: a groove portion for storing an excess coating liquid in the mask member; and a recovery liquid sending section for collecting the coating liquid stored in the groove portion and sending the recovered coating liquid to the coating liquid supply unit. .   2. The blade coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the groove is provided at a folding position of the coating member in a state in which the coating member is driven to reciprocate.   The blade coating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recovered liquid delivery unit includes a pump unit.   The blade coating apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the coating liquid is applied to a disk-shaped recording medium to form at least one layer of a printing surface. A mask member is arranged on a flat substrate, and the coating member provided on the upper surface side of the mask member is driven in parallel with the upper surface in a state where the flat substrate is exposed from the opening of the mask member, and coating is performed. A blade coating method for forming a coating layer by applying a coating solution supplied from a liquid supply unit to the flat substrate exposed from the opening,
A step of storing an excess coating liquid not filled in the opening in the groove, and a step of collecting the coating liquid stored in the groove by a recovery liquid delivery unit and sending the recovered coating liquid to the coating liquid supply unit. Blade application method.   6. The blade coating method according to claim 5, wherein the coating member is reciprocally driven on the mask member, and the excess coating liquid is stored in the groove at a turn-back position of the reciprocating drive.   The blade coating method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the coating liquid is applied to a disk-shaped recording medium to form at least one layer of a printing surface.

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