JPH05185270A - Cutting method for glass panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve a cutting speed, prevent splashing of glass splinters generated by chipping and prevent surface flawing of the glass panel 8 by the glass splinters. CONSTITUTION:A slight volume of liquid 25 is stuck to the surface of the glass panel 8 to cover line traces 22 formed on this surface. These line traces 22 are then irradiated with a laser beam to generate thermal strains in the line trace 22 parts and to evaporate the liquid 25 advancing into a crack 26. As a result, the glass panel 8 is rapidly cut. The glass splinters are confined by the liquid 25 and are prevented from splashing to the surroundings.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The glass panel cutting method according to the present invention is used when a large glass panel is divided to make a liquid crystal panel or a slide glass for a specimen of a predetermined size.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional techniques for dividing a glass panel include:
There are two types of cutting, one is to cut the glass panel by moving the cutter and the other is to cut the glass panel to make a scratch on the panel surface and then to break the glass panel by hand or machine.

For example, when a liquid crystal plate used for a display section of various electronic devices or a slide glass used for preparing a microscope sample is manufactured, a large panel is cut or cleaved to obtain a predetermined size. The liquid crystal plate or slide glass of is obtained.

The work of dividing a large panel into small plates having a predetermined size in this way is performed by a cutter such as a diamond grindstone that moves along the upper surface of the panel placed on a table having a flat upper surface. Either the cutting method or the method of pressing a diamond single crystal or a cemented carbide chip to form a striation, and then cutting it manually or by a machine is used.

An example of the cutting method will be described. As shown in FIG. 3, above the table 2 on which the panel 1 is placed on the upper surface,
A cutter 4 is used to freely move the head 4 supporting the cutter 3 on the lower surface in the left-right direction in FIG. 3 and intermittently move the head 4 in the front-back direction by a constant length. While pressing the upper surface of the panel 1 to the head 4 as shown in FIG.
4 is moved in the left-right direction to form a cut on the panel 1 as shown by a chain line a in FIG.

When one break in the horizontal direction of FIG. 4 shown by a chain line a is formed, the head 4 is slightly moved in the front-back direction of FIG. 3 by a certain length, and then the head 4 is moved again in the left-right direction of FIG. Repeating the moving operation, the chain line a, a in FIG.
As shown in, a plurality of parallel cuts are formed at equal intervals.

After forming the lateral cuts indicated by chain lines a and a in FIG. 4, the table 2 is then rotated 90 degrees about the vertical axis, and the head 4 is again moved in the left-right direction in FIG. The panel 1 is formed with vertical cuts indicated by broken lines b and b in FIG.

By this operation, the large panel 1 is divided into small rectangular plates surrounded by chain lines a, a and broken lines b, b.

However, in the panel dividing device configured and operating as described above, the cutter 3 which reciprocates the upper surface of the panel 1 and cuts the panel 1 needs to be cooled with cooling water during the work. Not only is the surface of the panel 1 easily soiled by the cooling water, and the surface of the panel 1 is easily damaged by the generated chips, but the productivity is also poor.

In order to solve such a problem, after a striation is formed on the surface of the panel, the panel may be bent and cleaved at the streak forming portion, but the setup of the cleaving work is troublesome. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, when the cutting lines intersect, the cutting cannot be performed.

As a glass panel cleaving device for dealing with such a problem, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 62-175042 discloses a cleaving device as shown in FIGS.

In the glass panel cleaving device described in this publication, a table 7 is provided on the upper surface of the machine body 5 and is rotatable by 90 degrees about a vertical axis 6. The upper surface of the table 7 on which the glass panel 8 is placed is formed flat, and a large number of small holes leading to a vacuum source are provided for holding the glass panel. The main moving table 9 provided at the upper corner of the machine body 5 is movable above the table 7. That is, the screw rod 11 which is rotationally driven by the motor 10 is screwed into the nut piece 12 fixed to the lower surface of the main moving table 9, and the main moving table is rotated by rotating the motor 10 in the forward or reverse direction. 9 is movable in parallel in the left-right direction in FIG.

A horizontal guide rail 13 is arranged on the upper surface of the main moving table 9 in a direction perpendicular to the moving direction of the main moving table 9.
The auxiliary movable table 14 which is movable along the drive pulley 16 fixed to the output shaft of the motor 15 provided at one end of the main movable table 9.
And a driven pulley 17 provided at the other end of the main moving table 9 to connect an intermediate portion of a belt 18 to the motor 15
The sub-movement base 14 can be moved in parallel in the left-right direction of FIG. A cutter 19 for forming a striation on the upper surface of the glass panel 8 is mounted on the sub-movement base 14 so as to be movable up and down with respect to the sub-movement base 14.

At the upper end of the main moving table 9, the sub moving table 14
A laser head 20 for irradiating a laser beam toward the glass panel 8 on the upper surface of the table 7 is fixed to a portion passing below. This laser head 20
The irradiation port of is positioned directly above the straight line on which the cutter 19 moves so that the laser beam irradiated from the irradiation port is irradiated to the scratches 22 (FIGS. 7 to 8) formed by the cutter 19. ing.

When the glass panel 8 is cleaved by the panel cleaving device constructed as described above, first of all,
The glass panel 8 is placed on the upper surface of the table 7.

Next, by energizing the motor 10, the main moving table 9 is moved to the upper side of the glass panel 8 and moved leftward in FIG. When the main moving table 9 is moved to a predetermined place, the cutter 19 that has been raised up to that point is lowered, the cutter 19 is pressed against the upper surface of the glass panel 8, and the motor 15 is energized in this state. Then, the auxiliary moving table 14 is linearly moved along the guide rails 13 to form linear scratches 22 on the upper surface of the glass panel 8, as shown in FIG.

If the streak 22 is formed in this manner,
The cutter 19 is separated from the upper surface of the glass panel 8, and the auxiliary moving table 14 is further moved to the end of the guide rail 13 as shown in FIG. 5, so that the irradiation port of the laser head 20 is formed on the upper surface of the glass panel 8. In the state of facing the streak 22
The laser head 20 is energized to irradiate the laser beam 23 toward the striations 22 as shown in FIG.

By irradiating the laser beam 23 on the entire length or a part of the scratches 22, the scratches 22 on the glass panel 8 are formed.
The formed portion (oblique grid portion in FIG. 8) thermally expands, the strain generated due to this thermal expansion is transmitted along the scratch 22, and the glass panel 8 is cut at the scratch 22 formed portion.

[0019]

However, when the glass panel is cut as described above, there are the following problems to be solved.

First, as the first problem, the cleaving speed is not always sufficient. That is, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional method, the laser beam 23 needs to generate a thermal strain in a part of the glass panel 8, and thus the cleaving speed (the moving speed of the laser head 20) cannot be sufficiently increased. For this reason, the efficiency of the cutting work is not always sufficient. In order to increase the cleaving speed, it is conceivable to increase the energy and power density of the laser beam 23, but even if the energy and power density are simply increased, the laser beam 2
By melting a part of the glass panel 8 irradiated with 3,
I can't make beautiful cuts.

As a second problem, glass fragments are generated along with the cleaving work, and the glass fragments easily scratch the surface of the glass panel 8 after cleaving. That is, when the slits 22 are formed on the surface of the glass panel 8 by the cutter 19, the raised portions 24, 2 are formed on both sides of the slits 22.
4 is formed. Then, based on the irradiation of the laser beam 23 on the scratches 22, the glass fragments generated by the chipping generated in the raised portions 24, 24 are scattered around. Thus, the glass fragments scattered around and adhering to the surface of the glass panel 8 cause damage to the surface of the glass panel 8 when the glass panel 8 is transported. To remove glass flakes that cause these problems,
In the past, there was no workaround other than suction removal with a vacuum suction device.

The method of cleaving a glass panel of the present invention eliminates any of the above disadvantages.

[0023]

In the method of cleaving a glass panel according to the present invention, first, as shown in FIG. 1, a groove 22 is formed on a portion of the glass panel 8 to be cleaved, and the groove 22 is formed.
A small amount of liquid 25 such as pure water is attached to the portion. In this way, the operation of adhering the liquid 25 is performed by using a nozzle provided immediately after the cutter 19 for forming the scratches 22 in the moving direction.
It is performed by flowing a small amount of liquid 25 or dropping it. In this way, the liquid 25 flowed down from the nozzle to the striations 22 is applied to the upper surface of the glass panel 8 in a state of covering the striations 22 and the raised portions 24, 24 formed on both sides of the striations 22. Adhere to.

As described above, after the liquid 25 such as pure water is attached to the scratches 22, the laser beam 23 is irradiated along the scratches 22 as shown in FIG. The glass panel 8 is cut at the line 22.

[0025]

As described above, in the glass panel cleaving method of the present invention, a small amount of liquid 25 such as pure water is attached to the streaks 22 so that the glass panel 8 can be cleaved quickly and finely. You can do it without scattering the pieces.

That is, the liquid 25 attached to the streak 22 portion
Is a raised portion 2 formed on both sides of the streak 22.
In addition to covering Nos. 4 and 24, it penetrates into cracks 26 formed from the scratches 22 toward the back of the glass panel 8. When the laser beam 23 is applied to the striations 22 in this state, the portion in the vicinity of the striations 22 in a part of the glass panel 8, which is shown by the oblique grid in FIG. 2, thermally expands and penetrates into the cracks 26. The liquid 25 instantaneously vaporizes and expands.

As a result, a force is applied to the portion where the scratches 22 are formed to spread the cracks 26, and the breaking strength of the portion where the scratches 22 are formed on the glass panel 8 is extremely reduced. At the portion where the streak 22 is formed, it is instantly fractured.

Further, due to the chipping caused by the irradiation of the laser beam 23, the glass fragments generated at the raised portions 24, 24 are enclosed in the liquid 25 and are not scattered around. Therefore, the surface of the glass panel 8 after being cut is not damaged by the glass fragments.

The liquid 2 attached to the portion where the scratches 22 are formed
As pure water 5, in addition to pure water, other liquids such as tap water and oil can be used as long as they easily penetrate into the cracks 26 (having a small surface tension).

[0030]

Since the glass panel cleaving method of the present invention is constructed and operates as described above, the glass panel cleaving work can be efficiently performed without soiling or damaging the glass panel. Therefore, it becomes possible to provide cut glass of good quality at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of a glass panel showing a first step of the method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the glass panel, which also shows the second step.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view showing a first example of a conventional device.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a glass panel showing a cut.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a second example of the conventional device.

FIG. 6 is a side view seen from the right side of FIG.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of a glass panel showing a first step of a conventional method.

FIG. 8 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the glass panel, similarly showing the second step.

[Explanation of sign]

 1 panel 2 table 3 cutter 4 head 5 machine body 6 vertical axis 7 table 8 glass panel 9 main moving table 10 motor 11 screw rod 12 nut piece 13 guide rail 14 auxiliary moving table 15 motor 16 drive pulley 17 driven pulley 18 belt 19 cutter 20 Laser head 22 Streak 23 Laser beam 24 Raised part 25 Liquid 26 Crack

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A striation is formed on a portion of a glass panel to be cleaved, a small amount of liquid is attached to the striation, and a laser beam is irradiated along the striation to form the striation. A method for cleaving a glass panel, wherein the glass panel is cleaved at a portion.