JP2017062361A - Lighting control film and method for manufacturing the lighting control film - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a lighting control film capable of being produced accurately and stably.SOLUTION: A lighting control film 1 controls transmitted light, by interposing a liquid crystal layer 10 between first and second laminates 9, 8 including at least orientation layers 15, 19 and controlling an orientation of a liquid crystal relating to the liquid crystal layer 10 by driving of transparent electrodes 13, 18 provided in the first and second laminates 9,8. The first and second laminates 9,8 include base materials 6, 5 provided with holding layers 12, 17 by adhesive layers 12A, 17A, and the orientation layers 15, 19 are held by the base materials 6, 5 through the holding layers 12, 17.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a light control film that can be used for, for example, an electronic blind that is attached to a window to control the transmission of extraneous light.

  Conventionally, for example, various devices relating to a light control film that is attached to a window to control the transmission of external light have been proposed (Patent Documents 1 and 2). One such light control film uses liquid crystal. The light control film using the liquid crystal is produced by sandwiching a liquid crystal material with a transparent film material on which a transparent electrode is produced, and producing the liquid crystal cell with a linear polarizing plate. As a result, in this light control film, the orientation of the liquid crystal is changed by changing the electric field applied to the liquid crystal, thereby blocking or transmitting the extraneous light, and further changing the amount of transmitted light. To control.

  In addition, a liquid crystal display panel, which is one of the image display panels, includes a liquid crystal cell sandwiched between a pair of glass plates made of transparent electrodes and alignment layers, and the liquid crystal cell is sandwiched between linear polarizing plates. Configured. The liquid crystal display panel displays a desired image by changing the electric field applied to the liquid crystal in units of pixels by patterning the transparent electrode.

  By the way, the liquid crystal display panel is provided with various production facilities and production materials. With this, for example, by producing a transparent electrode by holding a transparent film material on a production substrate such as a glass substrate, it is possible to efficiently produce a light control film by effectively using equipment and production materials of a liquid crystal display panel Conceivable. Incidentally, although this type of transparent film material has a heat-resistant temperature of about 120 ° C., it is considered that a transparent electrode or the like can be produced by temperature control in the manufacturing process if it is held on the glass substrate in this way.

  However, in the case of producing a transparent electrode or the like by holding a transparent film material on a production substrate such as a glass substrate in this way, the transparent film material held on the production substrate is removed from the production substrate by thermal expansion during production. There is a problem that the transparent film material is warped or wrinkles are generated in the transparent film material due to floating, and this makes it impossible to produce accurately and stably.

JP 03-47392 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 08-184273

  This invention is made | formed in view of such a condition, and it aims at enabling it to produce accurately and stably regarding a light control film.

  The present inventor conducted extensive research to solve the above problems, and after applying a coating liquid to a production substrate such as a glass substrate to produce a holding layer, and producing a transparent electrode and the like on this holding layer The idea of peeling off the production substrate has led to the completion of the present invention.

  Specifically, the present invention provides the following.

(1) A liquid crystal layer is sandwiched between first and second stacked bodies each including at least an alignment layer, and the liquid crystal according to the liquid crystal layer is driven by a transparent electrode provided in the first and / or second stacked body. In the light control film that controls the transmitted light by controlling the orientation of
The first and / or second laminate is
On the base material, a holding layer by a coating film is provided by an adhesive layer,
The light control film by which the said alignment layer was hold | maintained at the said base material through the said holding layer.

  According to (1), after the alignment layer is laminated on the holding layer produced by forming the coating film on the production substrate to produce the first and second laminated bodies, the liquid crystal layer is laminated, Then, by being able to produce by peeling off the production substrate, for example, effectively avoiding warpage and wrinkling as in the case of producing a transparent electrode or the like by holding the transparent film material on the production substrate. This makes it possible to produce stably. Further, in this case, the holding layer is accurately positioned and held on the manufacturing substrate, so that the first and / or second laminate can be formed with high accuracy. Thus, the light control film can be produced stably with high accuracy.

(2) In (1),
A light control film comprising an optical functional layer of a linearly polarizing plate on a side surface opposite to the liquid crystal layer of the first and second laminates.

  According to (2), the present invention can be applied to a configuration in which light control is performed by controlling the polarization plane by the liquid crystal layer.

(3) In (1),
The light control film whose said liquid crystal layer is a liquid crystal layer by a guest host liquid crystal.

  According to (3), the present invention can be applied to a configuration in which light control is performed using a liquid crystal layer made of guest-host liquid crystal.

(4) In any one of (1), (2) and (3),
The holding layer is
A light control film having a thermal expansion coefficient of 70 ppm / ° C. or less.

  According to (4), since the expansion and contraction due to the heat treatment during the preparation of the alignment layer can be reduced, the accuracy can be further improved.

(5) In any one of (1), (2), (3) and (4),
The holding layer is
A light control film formed of a polyimide resin or a polycarbonate resin.

  According to (5), the light control film can be stably produced with high accuracy by a more specific configuration.

(6) In any one of (1), (2), (3), (4), (5),
The holding layer is
A light control film having a thickness of 20 μm or less and a transmittance of 80% or more.

  According to (6), a decrease in the amount of transmitted light due to the holding layer can be sufficiently suppressed.

(7) In any of (1), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6),
The holding layer is
In-plane retardation R0 is 10 nm or less,
A light control film having a thickness direction retardation Rth of 30 nm or less.

  According to (7), the occurrence of optical anisotropy due to the provision of the holding layer can be sufficiently suppressed, and further the deterioration of characteristics in the viewing angle direction can be sufficiently suppressed.

(8) A holding layer preparation step of applying a coating liquid to a manufacturing substrate to prepare a holding layer made of a coating film;
An alignment layer preparation step of preparing an alignment layer in the holding layer and preparing a first laminate including the manufacturing substrate, the holding layer, and the alignment layer;
A step of laminating a liquid crystal layer to produce a laminate with the liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first laminate and the corresponding second laminate to integrate the liquid crystal layer; and
A peeling step of peeling the substrate for production from the laminate with the liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween,
The manufacturing process of the light control film which produces a light control film from the laminated body which peeled the said board | substrate for manufacture at the said peeling process.

  According to (8), an orientation layer is laminated on a holding layer produced by forming a coating film on a production substrate, and then laminated with a liquid crystal layer with a corresponding second laminate, and thereafter for production. By peeling off the substrate, it is possible to effectively avoid the occurrence of warpage and wrinkles, for example, when a transparent electrode material is produced by holding a transparent film material on a substrate for production, and thus stable. Can be produced. Further, in this case, the holding layer is accurately positioned and held on the manufacturing substrate, so that the first laminate can be formed with high accuracy. Thereby, a light control film can be produced stably with high accuracy.

(9) A holding layer manufacturing step of applying a coating liquid to a manufacturing substrate to prepare a holding layer made of a coating film;
An alignment layer preparation step of preparing an alignment layer in the holding layer and preparing a first laminate including the manufacturing substrate, the holding layer, and the alignment layer;
A peeling step of peeling the manufacturing substrate from the first laminate;
A liquid crystal layer is sandwiched and integrated by the first laminated body from which the manufacturing substrate has been peeled in the peeling step and the corresponding second laminated body, and a laminated body with the liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween is produced. A liquid crystal layer stacking step to be prepared,
A process for producing a light control film, wherein a light control film is produced from a laminate having the liquid crystal layer interposed therebetween.

  According to (9), after the alignment layer is laminated on the holding layer produced by forming the coating film on the production substrate, the production substrate is peeled off, and the liquid crystal layer is formed with the corresponding second laminate. By pinching, for example, when a transparent film material is held on a manufacturing substrate and a transparent electrode or the like is produced, warpage and generation of wrinkles can be effectively avoided, and thus stable production can be achieved. it can. Further, in this case, the holding layer is accurately positioned and held on the manufacturing substrate, so that the first laminate can be formed with high accuracy. Thereby, a light control film can be produced stably with high accuracy.

(10) In (8) or (9),
The peeling step includes
A manufacturing process of a light control film in which the holding layer is peeled from the manufacturing substrate by scanning laser light condensed on the manufacturing substrate side surface of the holding layer.

  According to (10), the holding layer is locally peeled from the manufacturing substrate by thermal expansion caused by laser light irradiation, and the laser light is scanned to scan the holding layer from the manufacturing substrate in a wide area. The holding layer can be easily and reliably peeled off from the production substrate.

  According to the present invention, a light control film can be produced with high accuracy and stability.

It is a figure which shows the light control film which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure where it uses for description of the manufacturing process of the light control film of FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the continuation of FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the continuation of FIG. 3. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the continuation of FIG. 4. It is a flowchart which shows the manufacturing process of FIGS. It is a flowchart which shows the other example of the control process of FIG. It is a figure which shows the light control film which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the light control film which concerns on 4th Embodiment of this invention.

[First Embodiment]
[Light control film]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a light control film according to the first embodiment of the present invention. This light control film 1 is used by being attached to an area for light control such as a window glass of a building, a showcase, an indoor transparent partition, etc. with an adhesive layer or the like, and the amount of transmitted light can be reduced by changing the applied voltage. Control.

  This light control film 1 is a film material that controls transmitted light using liquid crystal, and is configured by sandwiching a liquid crystal cell 4 for light control film between linear polarizing plates 2 and 3. Here, the linear polarizing plates 2 and 3 are formed by impregnating polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) with iodine or the like, and then stretched to form an optical functional layer that performs an optical function as a linear polarizing plate. TAC (triacetyl cellulose) The optical functional layer is sandwiched between base materials made of a transparent film material such as the above. The linearly polarizing plates 2 and 3 are arranged in the liquid crystal cell 4 by adhesive layers 2A and 3A made of an adhesive layer, an ultraviolet curable resin, or the like, in a crossed Nicol arrangement.

  The liquid crystal cell 4 controls the polarization plane of transmitted light by an applied voltage to a transparent electrode described later. Thereby, the light control film 1 is comprised so that transmitted light can be controlled and various light control can be aimed at.

  The liquid crystal cell 4 is configured by sandwiching a liquid crystal layer 10 between an upper laminate 8 and a lower laminate 9 which are first and second laminates having a film shape. The lower laminate 9 is formed by laminating the substrate 6, the holding layer 12, the transparent electrode 13, the spacer 14, and the alignment layer 15. The upper laminate 8 is formed by laminating the base material 5, the holding layer 17, the transparent electrode 18, and the alignment layer 19. Here, as the base materials 5 and 6, various transparent film materials applicable to this kind of film material can be applied. For example, optical anisotropy such as polycarbonate film, COP (cycloolefin polymer) film, TAC film, etc. A small film material can be applied. The base materials 5 and 6 are disposed by being laminated on the holding layers 12 and 17 by adhesive layers 12A and 17A made of an adhesive layer, an ultraviolet curable resin, or the like. Note that the substrate 5 may be omitted, and the holding layer 17, the transparent electrode 18, and the alignment layer 19 may be laminated directly on the linear polarizing plate 2. Similarly, the substrate 6 may be omitted, and the holding layer 12, the transparent electrode 13, the spacer 14, and the alignment layer 15 may be directly laminated on the linear polarizing plate 3.

  Accordingly, the liquid crystal cell 4 in FIG. 1 is driven by, for example, an IPS (In-plane Switching) method, although the alignment of the liquid crystal is controlled by a pair of counter electrodes sandwiching the liquid crystal material. In that case, either the transparent electrode 18 or 13 of the upper laminate 8 or the lower laminate 9 is omitted, and a driving electric field is applied to the liquid crystal material by patterning the other transparent electrode. The spacer 14 may be provided on the upper laminated body 8 side, or may be provided on both the upper laminated body 8 and the lower laminated body 9. The spacer 14 may be formed on the alignment layer 15. In addition, the spacer 14 is omitted from both the upper laminate 8 and the lower laminate 9 by applying a bead-shaped spacer between the upper laminate 8 and the lower laminate 9, for example. Also good.

  Here, the holding layer 12 of the lower laminate 9 is a member that holds the members (transparent electrode 13, spacer 14, alignment layer 15) provided on the lower laminate 9 side on a manufacturing substrate described later in the manufacturing process. In addition, it is a member that holds the member provided on the lower laminate 9 side on the base material 6. Further, the holding layer 17 on the upper laminate 8 side is a member for holding members (transparent electrode 18 and alignment layer 19) provided on the upper laminate 8 side on a production substrate, which will be described later, in the manufacturing process. It is a member that holds the member provided on the laminated body 8 side on the base material 5. The holding layers 12 and 17 are coating films produced by coating on a production substrate, and are held on the base materials 5 and 6 by adhesive layers 12A and 17A, respectively. The holding layers 12 and 17 are formed of a coating film having sufficient heat resistance against heat treatment in the manufacturing process, more specifically, a material having a glass transition temperature Tg of 170 ° C. or higher. The holding layers 12 and 17 are made of a material whose thermal expansion coefficient is not significantly different from that of the manufacturing substrate, more specifically, a material having a thermal expansion coefficient of 70 ppm / ° C. or less.

  Thereby, in this embodiment, the transparent electrode 13, the spacer 14, the alignment layer 15, the transparent electrode 18, and the alignment layer 19 are formed on the holding layers 12 and 17 formed by forming the coating film on the manufacturing substrate. After producing the lower laminated body 9 and the upper laminated body 8, after laminating | stacking with the liquid crystal layer 10, after peeling a board | substrate for manufacture, the base materials 5 and 6 are arrange | positioned and the liquid crystal cell 4 is produced. Moreover, when omitting the base materials 5 and 6 and arrange | positioning the linear polarizing plates 2 and 3 directly, after peeling a board | substrate for manufacture, the linear polarizing plates 2 and 3 are arrange | positioned. Thereby, the light control film 1 arrange | positions the holding layers 12 and 17 by a coating film by the adhesive layers 12A and 17A on the base material of the base materials 5 and 6 or the linear polarizing plates 2 and 3, and this holding layer 12, By 17, the alignment layer and the like are held by the transparent film material applied to these base materials.

  Thus, the holding layers 12 and 17 are prepared on the production substrate by the coating film, and the transparent electrode 13 and the like are produced on the holding layers 12 and 17 so that, for example, the transparent film material is held on the production substrate. Thus, warpage and wrinkle generation can be effectively avoided as in the case of producing a transparent electrode or the like, whereby stable production can be achieved. Further, in this case, the holding layers 12 and 17 are positioned and held with high precision on the manufacturing substrate, so that the patterning of the transparent electrodes 13 and 18 and the spacers 14 and the like can be made with high precision. Thereby, in this embodiment, the light control film 1 can be produced stably with high accuracy.

  In addition, since the holding layers 12 and 17 are made of a material having a thermal expansion coefficient of 70 ppm / ° C. or less, the expansion and contraction due to the heat treatment during the preparation of the alignment layer can be reduced, and the accuracy can be further improved.

  Furthermore, the holding layers 12 and 17 are produced so that the transmittance is 80% or more with a thickness of 20 μm or less, thereby sufficiently suppressing the decrease in the amount of transmitted light due to the provision of the holding layer. The holding layers 12 and 17 are made of a material having a small optical anisotropy, and more specifically, are made with an in-plane retardation R0 of 10 nm or less and a thickness direction retardation Rth of 30 nm or less. Thus, the holding layers 12 and 17 do not give a large change to the phase difference of transmitted light set in the liquid crystal layer 10 and prevent deterioration of characteristics in the viewing angle direction.

  More specifically, the holding layers 12 and 17 are formed of, for example, a polyimide resin or a polycarbonate resin. Here, the polyimide resin has a thermal expansion coefficient of 10 to 40 ppm / ° C., and the polycarbonate resin has a thermal expansion coefficient of 60 ppm / ° C. For the polyimide resin, a polyimide resin material having a small optical anisotropy and having an in-plane retardation R0 and a thickness direction retardation Rth within the above-described ranges is applied. In addition, since the phase differences R0 and Rth are proportional to the film thickness, the holding layers 12 and 17 can be formed by reducing the film thickness as necessary instead of selecting the material or in addition to selecting the material. The phase differences R0 and Rth may be kept low.

  Various electrode materials applied to this type of film material can be applied to the transparent electrodes 13 and 18. In this embodiment, the transparent electrodes 13 and 18 are formed of a transparent electrode material made of ITO (Indium Tin Oxide). As the spacer 14, various resin materials can be widely applied. In this embodiment, the spacer 14 is made of a photoresist, and is exposed by applying a photoresist on the holding layer 12 formed of the transparent electrode 13. It is produced by developing.

  The alignment layers 15 and 19 are rubbed after a polyimide resin layer is formed on the holding layer 12 formed of the transparent electrode 13 and the spacer 14 and on the holding layer 17 formed of the transparent electrode 18. Made by processing. The alignment layers 15 and 19 can be applied with various configurations capable of expressing the alignment regulating force with respect to the liquid crystal material related to the liquid crystal layer 10, and may be formed by a so-called photo alignment layer, which may be rubbed or polished. You may form and form the fine line-shaped uneven | corrugated shape by a process by a shaping process. The spacer 14 may be formed on the alignment layer 15.

  As the material for the photo-alignment layer, various materials to which a photo-alignment technique can be applied can be applied. For example, after the alignment, the alignment does not change due to ultraviolet irradiation. Material can be used. The light dimerization type material is described in “M. Schadt, K. Schmitt, V. Kozinkov and V. Chigrinov: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys., 31, 2155 (1992)”, “M. Schadt, H. Seiberle and A. Schuster: Nature, 381, 212 (1996).

  Various liquid crystal materials applicable to this type of light control film can be widely applied to the liquid crystal layer 10.

  In the liquid crystal cell 4, a sealing material is disposed in a frame shape surrounding a portion where the liquid crystal layer 10 is formed, and the leakage of the liquid crystal material is prevented by this sealing material, and the upper laminated body 8 and the lower laminated body 9 are attached. Combined and integrated. Here, as the sealing material, various materials capable of preventing the liquid crystal material from leaking and capable of holding the upper laminated body 8 and the lower laminated body 9 together can be applied. More specifically, a thermosetting ultraviolet curable resin agent, an epoxy resin agent, or the like is applied.

〔Manufacturing process〕
2 to 5 are diagrams for explaining the manufacturing process of the light control film, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the manufacturing process according to FIGS. In the manufacturing process SP1, the manufacturing process is performed by applying the coating liquids of the holding layers 12 and 17 to the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21, respectively, drying and baking, and thereby applying to the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21. The holding layers 12 and 17 made of the film are produced (FIGS. 2 (a1) and (a2)). Here, the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21 are formed of a material having sufficient smoothness and a small thermal expansion coefficient. In addition, a transparent member is applied in order to perform various optical inspections during the manufacturing process. Thereby, in this embodiment, for example, a glass substrate made of alkali-free glass or the like is applied.

  Subsequently, in this manufacturing process, transparent electrodes 13 and 18 are respectively formed on the holding layers 12 and 17 by applying a photolithography technique in the transparent electrode manufacturing process SP3 (FIGS. 2B1 and 2B2). ). Subsequently, in the spacer manufacturing step SP4, a photoresist film is manufactured on the manufacturing substrate 20 side, and then exposed and developed, thereby manufacturing the spacer 14 (FIG. 3C). Subsequently, in the manufacturing step SP5 of the alignment layer, a polyimide resin layer coating solution is formed on the holding layer 12 formed with the spacers 14 and on the holding layer 17 formed with the transparent electrodes 18. After coating, drying and heat treatment are performed, thereby producing a polyimide film. In addition, the polyimide film is rubbed to form alignment layers 15 and 19 (FIGS. 3 (d1) and (d2)).

  Subsequently, in the manufacturing step SP6 of the liquid crystal layer, this manufacturing process is performed by applying a sealing material in a frame shape using a dispenser to the holding layer 12 formed from the alignment layer 15, and then surrounded by the frame shape. The liquid crystal material according to the liquid crystal layer 10 is dropped at a predetermined position using a dispenser (FIG. 4E). Thereafter, in this manufacturing process, the holding layer 17 formed by preparing the alignment layer 18 is brought and laminated, and then pressed and heated, whereby the liquid crystal layer 10 is sandwiched, whereby the manufacturing substrate 20, 21 are bonded and integrated with a sealing material (FIG. 5F). Then, this manufacturing process peels off the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21 in the peeling process SP7 (FIG. 5G).

  Here, in this embodiment, the laser beam is focused on the side surface of the manufacturing substrate 20 of the holding layer 12 and the side surface of the manufacturing substrate 21 of the holding layer 17 through the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21, thereby locally. Further, the holding layers 12 and 17 are peeled off from the production substrates 20 and 21 by thermal expansion with laser light, and the laser light is scanned in the in-plane direction, whereby the holding layers 12 and 17 are separated from the production substrates 20 and 21. 12 and 17 are peeled off. Thereby, in this embodiment, damage of the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21 is effectively avoided, and the holding layers 12 and 17 are reliably peeled from the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21. Here, for example, when the holding layer is a polyimide resin, an excimer laser having a wavelength of 308 nm that efficiently absorbs light can be applied to the laser light. In addition, you may make it provide the peeling acceleration | stimulation layer which accelerates | stimulates peeling by irradiation of such a laser beam between the board | substrates 20 and 21 for manufacture, and the holding layers 12 and 17. FIG. In addition, as such a peeling acceleration | stimulation layer, the resin material etc. which selectively absorb the laser beam used for irradiation and thermally expand can be applied, for example.

  In this manufacturing process, after the base materials 5 and 6 are arranged with an adhesive layer such as an ultraviolet curable resin layer in the subsequent base material laminating process SP8, in the subsequent linear polarizing plate laminating process SP9, the same ultraviolet curable resin layer is arranged. The linearly polarizing plates 2 and 3 are arranged by an adhesive layer such as (FIG. 1).

  As shown in FIG. 7 in comparison with FIG. 6, a peeling step SP61 for peeling off the production substrates 20 and 21 may be provided before the liquid crystal layer stacking step SP71. Alternatively, one peeling step of the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21 may be provided before the liquid crystal layer laminating step, and the remaining manufacturing substrate peeling steps may be provided after the liquid crystal layer laminating step.

  Moreover, after peeling off both the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21 in this way, instead of laminating the base materials 5 and 6, or instead of laminating the linear polarizing plates 2 and 3, one of the manufacturing substrates 20 and 21. After the base material 5 or 6 is laminated on the peeled side or the linearly polarizing plate 2 or 3 is laminated, the remaining substrate 20 or 21 is peeled off and the remaining base material is peeled off. May be arranged. In the lamination of the base material and the linear polarizing plate, a base material made of a transparent film material may be laminated on one side, and a linear polarizing plate may be arranged on the other side.

  According to this embodiment, a holding layer is produced by coating on a production substrate, a transparent electrode or the like is produced on the holding layer, and then the production substrate is peeled off to produce a light control film. It is possible to produce a light control film stably by effectively avoiding the generation of wrinkles and warping as in the case of producing a film material by holding it on a production substrate. In addition, since the transparent electrode or the like can be produced by positioning and holding the holding layer on the production substrate with high accuracy, a light control film can be produced with high accuracy.

[Second Embodiment]
FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view showing a light control film according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The light control film 31 is configured in the same manner as the light control film 1 of the first embodiment except that the liquid crystal cell 34 is applied instead of the liquid crystal cell 4. The liquid crystal cell 34 is formed by sandwiching the liquid crystal layer 10 between the upper stacked body 38 and the lower stacked body 9. In addition, in the structure of this FIG. 8, the structure same as the light control film 1 which concerns on 1st Embodiment is attached | subjected and shown, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.

  Here, the light control film 31 is configured to drive the liquid crystal layer 10 by the IPS method, whereby the upper laminate 38 is formed by forming the alignment layer 49 on the base material 45 made of a transparent film material. . As a result, the light control film 31 is configured such that the transparent electrode 13 is produced only in one laminated body 39 of the pair of members sandwiching the liquid crystal layer 10, and the lower laminated film for producing the transparent electrode 13 is produced. The transparent electrode 13 and the alignment layer 15 are produced by applying the holding layer 12 only to the body 39, and the alignment layer 49 is produced on the substrate 45 made of a transparent film material for the other laminate 38.

  In this way, the other laminated body 38 is prepared by forming the alignment layer 49 on the base material 45 made of a transparent film material, and holding the base material 45 in a state where it can be peeled off by the adhesive layer on the production substrate. Processing such as coating is performed, and at the time of heat treatment at the time of forming the alignment layer 49, the base material 45 is temporarily peeled off from the production substrate, and heat treatment is performed. When a driving method other than the IPS method is applied, a transparent electrode may be provided on the other stacked body 49 side. In this case, also in the heat treatment step in producing the transparent electrode, the base material 45 may be temporarily peeled from the production substrate and heat treated, or a film on which the transparent electrode is formed may be used. .

  Similar to the first embodiment, the alignment layer and the like may be formed by providing the holding layer only in one of the pair of stacked bodies sandwiching the liquid crystal layer as in this embodiment. An effect can be obtained.

[Third Embodiment]
In this embodiment, in the configuration of the first embodiment or the second embodiment, instead of irradiating with laser light, the holding layer is mechanically peeled off from the manufacturing substrate. Here, if the adhesion strength of the holding layer is too large with respect to the manufacturing substrate, it is difficult to stably peel the holding layer from the manufacturing substrate. However, if the adhesion strength is too small, the holding layer is peeled off from the production substrate in the production process, which hinders production. Thereby, in this embodiment, the adhesion strength of the holding layer to the production substrate is set to 15 N or less / 25 mm and 0.1 to 25 mm width. In addition, this adhesion strength is the peeling force by the 180 degree | times peeling test prescribed | regulated to JISK6854-2. Note that, in this embodiment, for example, a release layer made of, for example, a fluororesin may be provided on the surface of the manufacturing substrate to reduce the peel force.

  Such mechanical peeling may be applied only to either the upper laminate or the lower laminate. Specifically, when the manufacturing substrate is peeled in a state where the liquid crystal layer is sandwiched between the upper layered body and the lower layered body, first, it is manufactured on one side by the laser beam scanning described above for the first embodiment. After peeling off the substrate, the manufacturing substrate can be peeled off mechanically on the remaining side to peel off the manufacturing substrate easily and reliably.

  From the viewpoint of promoting such mechanical peeling, the part where peeling starts by laser light irradiation is partly peeled off, so that the mechanical peeling process can be executed reliably. May be.

[Fourth Embodiment]
FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view showing a light control film according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The light control film 51 is formed by sandwiching a liquid crystal layer 60 of guest-host type liquid crystal between the upper laminate 8 and the lower laminate 9, or between the upper laminate 38 and the lower laminate 39. In the configuration of FIG. 9, the same configuration as that of the above-described light control films 1 and 31 is denoted by the corresponding reference numeral, and redundant description is omitted.

  Even when the guest-host type liquid crystal is used and the linear polarizing plate is omitted, the same effects as those of the above-described embodiment can be obtained.

[Other Embodiments]
The specific configuration suitable for the implementation of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention can be variously combined and modified in various ways within the scope of the present invention.

  That is, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the holding layer and the substrate made of the transparent film material are laminated is described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the transparent substrate such as a glass plate having a curved shape and the holding layer are laminated. It can also be widely applied to. In this case, after laminating with a transparent substrate having a flat plate shape first, it may be pressed with a mold in a heated state to form a curved surface as a whole, or directly laminated on a transparent substrate having a curved surface shape, After laminating on a transparent substrate having a curved shape, the shape may be further changed.

  In the above-described embodiment, the transparent electrode held in the holding layer and the alignment layer are integrated with the holding layer, arranged on the transparent base material made of a transparent film material by the adhesive layer, and then laminated with the linear polarizing plate. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and as described above, the transparent electrode and alignment layer held in the holding layer are arranged directly on the linear polarizing plate integrally with the holding layer, and the linear polarizing plate is used as the base material. You may use and omit the base material by a transparent film material. In this way, the overall thickness may be reduced and the process may be simplified.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 31, 51 Light control film 2, 3 Linearly polarizing plate 2A, 3A Adhesive layer 4, 34 Liquid crystal cell 5, 6 Base material 8, 9, 38, 39 Laminated body 10 Liquid crystal layer 12, 17 Holding layer 13, 18 Transparent electrode 14 Spacers 15 and 19 Alignment layers 20 and 21 Manufacturing substrate

Claims (10)

The liquid crystal layer is sandwiched between the first and second laminates including at least an alignment layer, and the alignment of the liquid crystal related to the liquid crystal layer is performed by driving the transparent electrode provided in the first and / or second laminate. In a light control film that controls transmitted light by controlling,
The first and / or second laminate is
On the base material, a holding layer by a coating film is provided by an adhesive layer,
The light control film by which the said orientation layer was hold | maintained at the said base material through the said holding layer. The light control film according to claim 1, further comprising an optical functional layer of a linearly polarizing plate on a side surface opposite to the liquid crystal layer of the first and second laminates. The light control film according to claim 1, wherein the liquid crystal layer is a liquid crystal layer made of guest-host liquid crystal. The holding layer is
The light control film in any one of Claim 1, Claim 2, and Claim 3 whose thermal expansion coefficient is 70 ppm / degrees C or less. The holding layer is
The light control film according to claim 1, formed of a polyimide resin or a polycarbonate resin. The holding layer is
The light control film according to claim 1, wherein the thickness is 20 μm or less and the transmittance is 80% or more. The holding layer is
In-plane retardation R0 is 10 nm or less,
Thickness direction phase difference Rth is 30 nm or less. The light control film in any one of Claim 1, Claim 2, Claim 3, Claim 4, Claim 5, and Claim 6. A holding layer preparation step of applying a coating liquid to a manufacturing substrate to prepare a holding layer by a coating film;
An alignment layer preparation step of preparing an alignment layer in the holding layer and preparing a first laminate including the manufacturing substrate, the holding layer, and the alignment layer;
A step of laminating a liquid crystal layer to produce a laminate with the liquid crystal layer sandwiched between the first laminate and the corresponding second laminate to integrate the liquid crystal layer; and
A peeling step of peeling the substrate for production from the laminate with the liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween,
A process for producing a light control film, wherein a light control film is produced from the laminate obtained by separating the production substrate in the release process. A holding layer preparation step of applying a coating liquid to a manufacturing substrate to prepare a holding layer by a coating film;
An alignment layer preparation step of preparing an alignment layer in the holding layer and preparing a first laminate including the manufacturing substrate, the holding layer, and the alignment layer;
A peeling step of peeling the manufacturing substrate from the first laminate;
A liquid crystal layer is sandwiched and integrated by the first laminated body from which the manufacturing substrate has been peeled in the peeling step and the corresponding second laminated body, and a laminated body with the liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween is produced. A liquid crystal layer stacking step to be prepared,
A process for producing a light control film, comprising producing a light control film from a laminate having the liquid crystal layer sandwiched therebetween. The peeling step includes
The manufacturing process of the light control film of Claim 8 or Claim 9 which peels the said holding layer from the said board | substrate for manufacture by the scan of the laser beam condensed on the said board | substrate for manufacture of the said holding layer.

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