JPH04243571A - Continuous coating method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To continuously and easily apply a liquid coating agent to a continuous film like base material and to uniformly form a film having arbitrary thickness by bringing the continuous film like base material moving in one direction into contact with the almost lower half peripheries of the flanges provided to both ends of a horizontally supported roll to upwardly reverse the same. CONSTITUTION:A continuous film like base material 4 is moved in one direction and brought into contact with the almost lower half peripheries of the flanges 5 provided at least both ends of a horizontally supported roll 1 on the way of its movement to be reversed upwardly. By this method, the liquid coating agent 6 supplied to the space between the body of the roll 1 and the base material 4 is bonded to the base material 4 and, thereafter, the movement of the base material is turned to a horizontal direction. As a result, the liquid coating agent such as a liquid resist is continuously and easily applied to the continuous film like base material and, further, a film with arbitrary thickness can be uniformly formed.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for continuously applying a liquid resist or other liquid coating agent to a continuous film substrate made of, for example, a synthetic resin, and an apparatus used to carry out the method.

0002

[Prior Art] The technique of applying a liquid coating agent such as a liquid resist to the surface of a continuous film substrate is practiced in various industries including the manufacture of printed wiring boards. There are a wide variety of types, required coating thicknesses, and coating methods for various coating agents.

[0003] Regarding the method of continuously applying a liquid coating agent such as a liquid resist to a continuous film-like substrate that is currently generally practiced, (1) a film of liquid resist is uniformly formed on the surface of a roll, and the film is applied to the substrate to be coated. Roll coating method (2) Roll coating method in which a liquid resist is applied to the surface of the substrate in a manner similar to transferring the liquid resist onto the surface of the substrate (2) Immersion in which the liquid resist is adhered to the surface of the substrate by passing the substrate to be coated through a tank containing liquid resist Coating method (3) Drop liquid resist onto the surface of the substrate to be coated, using a bar with grooves necessary to form a coating film of the desired thickness.
Bar coating method (4) Applying a liquid resist to the surface of the substrate by leveling the liquid resist on the surface of the substrate (4) A resist film is applied to the surface of the substrate by applying a high voltage to the liquid resist and dispersing it in the form of a mist. Electrostatic coating method (5) A laminating method is known in which a pre-solidified resist (hereinafter referred to as dry film) is laminated onto the surface of a substrate to be coated to form a uniform film of resist on the surface of the substrate. There is.

0004

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, the above (
Each of the continuous resist coating methods 1) to (5) has various problems as described below.

[0005] The roll coating method (1) can normally form a resist film with a maximum thickness of 10 μm in a single coating operation, but in order to obtain a resist film with a thickness greater than that, It is necessary to repeat the coating operation multiple times. Moreover, between each resist coating operation, it is necessary to dry the resist film formed by the previous coating.
The drying time required thereby significantly reduces workability. Therefore, it is not suitable for forming a resist film having a thickness of 20 μm or more.

In the dip coating method (2), it is possible to form a resist film with a thickness of 10 μm or more in a single coating operation by adjusting the viscosity of the liquid resist, etc.
Since this method uses a large amount of liquid resist, it is difficult to control the viscosity of the liquid resist. Therefore, this makes it difficult to control the thickness of the resist film obtained. Further, in this method, since the substrate to be coated passes through a pool of liquid resist, it is impossible to perform multiple coating operations, and the upper limit of the thickness of the resist film obtained by this method is considered to be about 20 μm.

The bar coating method (3) is considered to be capable of continuous coating over a maximum length of several meters, but cannot be applied when the length of the substrate to be coated is several tens of meters. Furthermore, since the grooves formed in the bar directly contact the surface of the substrate to be coated,
There is a risk of scratching the substrate surface, and it is not suitable for continuously forming a relatively thick resist film.

[0008] In the electrostatic coating method (4), applying a high voltage to liquid resist, which is generally a combustible material, may cause a fire due to electric discharge, which poses a safety problem during work. Furthermore, since the resist adheres to the nozzle for atomizing the liquid resist, the nozzle must be cleaned or replaced quite frequently depending on the type of resist, which reduces work efficiency.

Compared to the methods (1) to (4) above, the laminating method (5) uses a dry film with a uniform thickness in advance, so a resist film with a thickness of about 40 μm is continuously formed. It has the characteristic of being able to be formed. However, this dry film has a drawback that its resolution is low due to its nature, and it cannot be adapted to future refinement.

[0010] As described above, with the currently commonly used continuous resist coating method, it is difficult to form a relatively thick and uniform resist film of 40 μm or more in a single coating operation. there were.

Based on the above findings, the present invention aims to provide a new method for continuously applying a liquid coating agent such as a liquid resist to a continuous film-like substrate, and a new apparatus used to carry out the method. This is the purpose.

0012

[Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention moves a continuous film-like substrate in one direction,
During the movement, the continuous film substrate is brought into contact with approximately the lower half of the flange of a horizontally supported roll having flanges at least on both ends, and is turned upward, whereby the continuous film substrate is connected to the body of the flanged roll. The liquid coating agent supplied into the space between the continuous film-like substrate is attached to the continuous film-like substrate, and then the movement of the continuous film-like substrate is turned horizontally.

[0013] The movement of the continuous film-like substrate coated with a liquid coating agent is turned horizontally via a guide roll by contact with the flanged roll, and the position of the horizontal turning guide roll with respect to the flanged roll is adjusted. The film thickness of the liquid coating agent is set.

The apparatus for carrying out the above method includes a guide roll that redirects the movement of the continuous film substrate moving in one direction downward, and a guide roller that turns the movement of the continuous film substrate moving downward in the upward direction. A coating roll and a guide roll for horizontally moving the continuous film substrate that is moving upward are arranged parallel to each other, and a flange is provided at least at both ends of the guide and coating roll, and approximately the lower half circumference of the flange is provided. A drive device that forms a space for storing a liquid coating agent between the cylinder of a guide/applying roll and the continuous film substrate by contact of the continuous film substrate, and can control the moving speed of the continuous film substrate; The present invention is characterized by being equipped with a drying device for drying the liquid coating agent adhered to the surface.

The method of the present invention and the apparatus for carrying out the method described above are suitable for applying a liquid resist to a continuous film substrate to form a uniform thin film layer of the resist.

[0016]

[Operation] When the continuous film-like substrate moving in one direction contacts the lower half of the guide/coating roll and turns upward,
The liquid coating agent is scooped up and applied to the surface of the continuous film substrate. Further, the thickness of the coating film becomes approximately uniform in the process of moving upward. Then, the continuous film-like substrate is moved horizontally by the next guide roll, the thickness of the coating film becomes constant, and the coating film is dried by a drying device.

The thickness of the coating film depends on the viscosity of the liquid coating agent, the wettability between the liquid coating agent and the coated surface of the continuous film substrate,
Depends on the position of the horizontal turning guide roll relative to the guide and applicator roll.

[0018]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a continuous coating method according to the present invention and an apparatus for carrying out the method will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal cross-sectional side view of the part where a liquid coating agent is applied to a continuous film-like substrate, in which three rolls 1, 2, and 3 are located at each apex of an inverted triangle and are parallel to each other. It is located. The continuous film-like substrate 4, which moves approximately horizontally in one direction indicated by the arrow, is wound in a substantially V-shape from one roll 2 on the upper side to the other roll 1 on the lower side and then to the other roll 3 on the upper side. ing. That is, the continuous film substrate 4 whose lower surface is supported by the roll 2 and turned downward, its upper surface contacts approximately the lower half of the lower roll 1 and is turned upward, and further whose lower surface is supported by the roll 3. It is wrapped around rolls 1, 2, and 3 so that it turns into horizontal movement.

The lower roll 1 is a guide and coating roll for the continuous film substrate 4, and is provided with flanges 5 on at least both ends thereof. Continuous film substrate 4
If the width of the roll is wide, roll 1 as necessary as shown in Figure 2
A flange 5 is provided at other than both ends. The flanges 5 are provided so that the continuous film base 4 contacts the roll 1 while remaining parallel to the roll 1, and the number and spacing of the flanges 5 in the middle portion are determined depending on the width and rigidity of the continuous film base 4. Decide.

Furthermore, the projecting height of the flange 5 is determined by the amount of liquid coating agent 6 between the body of the roll 1 and the continuous film substrate 4.
(See FIG. 1) The height may be sufficient as long as it can secure the space 7 in which the particles accumulate. Although there is no particular limit, since the thickness of the coating film is usually several μm to several hundred μm, the height is desirably about 1 mm to 10 mm.

As shown in FIG. 1, an appropriate amount of the liquid coating agent is supplied through the nozzle pipe 8 etc. so that a certain amount of the liquid coating agent is always stored in the coating agent storage space 7. A liquid level sensor is installed in the coating agent reservoir space 7,
A means for detecting the lower and upper limits of the liquid coating agent 6 and supplying the required amount of the liquid coating agent to the space 7 using an external metering pump, etc., or supplying a fixed amount of the liquid coating agent by a pump at regular intervals. Although there are means, the amount of the liquid coating agent 6 in the space 7 may be controlled using other methods without being limited to these means.

The upper pair of rolls 2 and 3 are guide rolls for the continuous film substrate 4, and although rolls 2 and 3 are arranged at the same height, this is not necessary. Among the pair of guide rolls 2 and 3, the height and longitudinal position of the guide roll 3 on the traveling direction side of the continuous film substrate 4 with respect to the guide/coating roll 1 with respect to the guide/coating roll 1 are as follows. It is determined according to the film thickness of the liquid coating agent to be applied.

The materials constituting the rolls 1, 2 and 3 are as follows:
This can be determined depending on the properties of the resist and other coating agents to be applied. Usually, when metal is used as the material, copper, titanium, stainless steel, etc. are used, and when plastic is used, vinyl chloride, polypropylene, fluororesin, etc. will be adopted. Further, the guide/coating roll 1 may be a composite body of metal and plastic, with the main body made of metal or plastic, and only the flange 5 made of plastic or metal. Furthermore, a rubber O-ring may be provided inside the flanges 5 provided at both ends of the roll 1 to prevent the liquid coating agent (resist, etc.) 6 from seeping out.

[0025] The continuous film substrate 4 can be easily moved using a generally commercially available winding coiler. A commercially available heater suffices for drying the liquid coating agent (resist, etc.) 6 coated to a uniform thickness on the continuous film substrate 4 by the guide/coating roll 1.

In FIG. 1, in the process of the continuous film substrate 4 contacting the lower half circumference of the guide/coating roll 1 and moving upward, the liquid coating agent 6 is scooped up onto the surface of the continuous film substrate 4. and coating film 6
The thickness of A becomes approximately uniform. After the movement of the continuous film substrate 4 is turned horizontally by the next guide roll 3,
The thickness of the coating film 6A is fixed, and the coating film 6A gradually dries in the next drying process.

The thickness of the coating film 6A depends on the viscosity of the liquid coating agent 6, the wettability between the liquid coating agent 6 and the coated surface of the continuous film substrate 4, the guide/coating roll 1 and the horizontal turning guide roll 3. It is determined by the angle θ between a line connecting the rotational axis of the guide and coating roll 1 and a vertical line passing through the rotational axis of the guide and coating roll 1, and the distance between the axes of the guide and coating roll 1 and the horizontal turning guide roll 3. That is, the higher the viscosity of the liquid coating agent 6, the higher the wettability, the larger θ, and the shorter the distance between the axes of the rolls 1 and 3, the thicker the coating film 6A becomes.

After the continuous film-like substrate 4 on which the coating film 6A has been formed passes through the guide roll 3, it moves while keeping it horizontal to prevent the formed coating film 6A from flowing and to make the film thickness uniform. It helps keep it fixed.

FIG. 3 schematically shows the structure of the liquid coating agent continuous coating device according to the present invention, in which the coating section consisting of the above-mentioned guide and coating roll 1 and guide rolls 2 and 3 is the main part, and there are A coiler 9 for feeding out the continuous film-like substrate 4 and a coiler 10 for winding it up are provided. A heater for drying the coating film is installed above the continuous film substrate 4 that is moving horizontally between the rear guide roll 3 and the winding coiler 10, that is, on the side of the continuous film substrate 4 facing the coating film 6A. 11 are provided. In order to accelerate the drying of the coating film, a far-infrared heater or the like may be installed as needed.

The coilers 9 and 10 described above are equipped with a mechanism that can appropriately control the moving speed of the continuous film substrate 4, and the thickness of the coating film 6A can also be changed by adjusting the moving speed. Moreover, the drying speed of the coating film 6A can also be adjusted.

The liquid coating agent continuous coating device of the present invention is not particularly limited in its shape, size, and material of construction as long as it satisfies the configuration shown in FIG. 3 above.

Next, various examples in which liquid resist was actually applied using the continuous coating apparatus of the present invention will be described. Example 1 First, a specific example of the configuration of the main parts of the continuous coating apparatus of the present invention will be described. Diameter 100mm using fluororesin
A guide/applying roll 1 is manufactured by lathe processing, using a cylindrical roll with a length of 200 mm as a base body, and having flanges 5 with a width of 20 mm and a height of 5 mm at both ends thereof, and a rotating shaft with a diameter of 5 mm in the center thereof. Form a through hole, length 2
A stainless steel rod with a length of 50 mm and a diameter of 49 mm was inserted as a rotating shaft to support the roll 1 horizontally.

Next, using fluororesin, a diameter of 100 mm,
A cylindrical guide roll 2 with a length of 200 mm was manufactured, and a through hole for a rotating shaft with a diameter of 5 mm was formed in the center of the roll.
A stainless steel rod with a diameter of 50 mm and a diameter of 49 mm was inserted as a rotating shaft, parallel to the guide and coating roll 1, and 300 mm above the rotating shaft of the roll 1, and between the rotating shaft of the roll 1 and the rotating shaft of the roll 2. The roll was supported so that the angle between the line connecting the two and the vertical line passing through the roll 1 was 45 degrees. Furthermore, a guide roll 3 having the same specifications as the guide roll 2 was installed on the opposite side of the roll 2 with a vertical plane containing the rotational axis of the guide/application roll 1 as a plane of symmetry.

Next, a coiler 9 for feeding out the continuous film substrate 4 was installed on the side of the guide roll 2 with respect to the guide/application roll 1 at a distance of 1 m from the roll 2. Further, a coiler 10 for winding the continuous film substrate 4 is placed on the side of the guide roll 3 with respect to the guide/applying roll 1, and the continuous film substrate 4 is placed on the roll at a distance of 5 m from the roll 3. It was installed so that it remained horizontal after passing 3.

Further, 10 cm above the continuous film substrate 4 that has passed the horizontal turning guide roll 3, a distance of 4 m from a position 50 cm from the roll 3 to the winding coiler 10 is placed.
Ten rod-shaped far-infrared heaters (manufactured by Thermic Co., Ltd.) each having a length of 250 mm and a diameter of 30 mm were arranged at equal intervals over a distance of 250 mm for resist drying.

Example 2 A 1 μm thick copper layer was formed on one side of a continuous film of polyimide resin (trade name Kapton 200H, manufactured by DuPont-Toray Co., Ltd.) with a width of 200 mm and a thickness of 50 μm. As the coated substrate 4, the following resist coating test was conducted using the continuous coating apparatus of the present invention described in Example 1.

The continuous film-like substrate 4 described above was placed on the continuous coating apparatus of Example 1 so that the copper layer side was the surface to be coated.

[0038] Resist (product name: PMER・HC60
0, manufactured by Tokyo Ohka Co., Ltd.) with thinner (product name: PM
While supplying ER thinner (manufactured by Tokyo Ohka Co., Ltd.) to a viscosity of 300 centipoise to the resist reservoir space 7 of the guide/application roll 1 using a metering pump (manufactured by Iwaki Co., Ltd.), the continuous film substrate 4 was moved at a line speed of 0.18 m/min, and continuous coating was performed while adjusting the drying temperature due to far infrared rays applied to the resist after coating to be 70°C. As a result, the copper layer side of the continuous film substrate 4 A resist film with a thickness of 52±3 μm could be formed over the entire surface.

Example 3 Continuous film substrate: Same resist as Example 2
... Same as above (However, viscosity is 80 centipoise) Line speed ... Same as above Drying temperature ... Same as above Resist film thickness ...16 ± 2 μm

Example 4 Continuous film substrate: Same resist as Example 2
... Same as above (However, viscosity is 80 centipoise) Line speed ...0.33 m/min Drying temperature ... Same as Example 2 Thickness of resist film ...28 ± 2 μm

Example 5 Continuous film substrate: Same resist as Example 2
... Same as above (However, viscosity is 40 centipoise) Line speed ...0.18 m/min Drying temperature ... Same as Example 2 Thickness of resist film ...11 ± 2 μm

Example 6 Continuous film substrate: Same resist as Example 2
... Same as above (however, viscosity 40 centipoise) Line speed ...0.33 m/min Drying temperature ... Same as Example 2 Thickness of resist film ...22 ± 2 μm

Example 7 Continuous film substrate: Same resist as Example 2
...Product name FSR (manufactured by Fuji Yakuhin Co., Ltd.) Same FSR thinner (manufactured by Fuji Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.) (Viscosity 30 centipoise) Line speed ...0.22 m/min Drying temperature ...80°C Thickness of resist film ...・7±1μm

[0044]

Effects of the Invention According to the continuous coating method and continuous coating device for a liquid coating agent according to the present invention, the liquid coating agent can be easily and continuously applied onto a continuous film-like substrate, and coatings of arbitrary thickness can be applied. It has an industrially excellent effect of being able to form a film uniformly.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a vertical sectional side view illustrating a continuous coating state according to the method of the present invention.

[Fig. 2] Perspective view of a coating roll used in the method of the present invention

[Figure 3
]A side view showing an embodiment of a continuous coating device according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Guide and application roll with flange 2　Downward turning guide roll 3 Horizontal turning guide roll 4 Continuous film-like substrate 5 Flange 6. Liquid coating agent 6A Paint film 7 Liquid coating agent reservoir space 8 Nozzle pipe for supplying liquid coating agent 9 Coiler for feeding out 10 Coiler for winding 11　Drying heater

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A continuous film-like substrate is moved in one direction, and during the movement, the continuous film-like substrate is brought into contact with approximately the lower half of the flange of a horizontally supported roll having flanges on at least both ends. The liquid coating agent supplied to the space between the flanged roll body and the continuous film substrate is attached to the continuous film substrate by rotating the flanged roll and turning it upward, and then the continuous film substrate is stopped from moving. Continuous application method characterized by horizontal turning. 2. The movement of the continuous film substrate coated with the liquid coating agent is horizontally turned via a guide roll, and the position of the horizontal turning guide roll with respect to the flanged roll is adjusted to change the film thickness of the liquid coating agent. 2. The continuous coating method according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The continuous coating method according to claim 1, wherein drying of the liquid coating agent applied to the continuous film-like substrate is controlled by controlling the moving speed of the continuous film-like substrate. 4. The continuous coating method according to claim 1, wherein the coating agent is a liquid resist. 5. A guide roll that redirects the movement of the continuous film-like substrate moving in one direction downward, a guide/application roll that turns the movement of the continuous film-like substrate moving downward upward, and a guide roller that turns the movement of the continuous film-like substrate moving downward in the upward direction. Guide rolls for turning the moving continuous film substrate into horizontal movement are arranged parallel to each other, flanges are provided at least at both ends of the guide and coating roll, and approximately the lower half of the flange is brought into contact with the continuous film substrate. A driving device is provided, which forms a space for storing the liquid coating agent between the guide/coating roll cylinder and the continuous film substrate, and is capable of controlling the moving speed of the continuous film substrate. A continuous coating device characterized by being equipped with a drying device.