The use of roll-to-plate UV-curing embossing to produce a composite light guide plate

Roll-to-roll technology is used to form optoelectronic products because it allows fast, continuous production and a short cycle time. It has become the mass production technology with the most potential for development for the production of plastic products with a microstructure. This study designs and manufactures a composite light guide plate (LGP) to replace a traditional LGP with two pieces of prism sheet. The bottom surface of the composite LGP features dot microstructures and the upper surface features prism microstructures. The optical design is optimized separately for the dot microstructure and the prism microstructure. T he optimum designs are used to produce a composite LGP. One side uses the optimized dot distribution, and the other side uses pyramid microstructures. A PMMA substrate with a thickness of 2 mm is manufactured using roll-to-plate UV-cured embossing. In order to manufacture LGPs with microstructures on both sides, a rolling machine with an adjustment and positioning function is manufactured. Taguchi analysis is used to determine the single-sided optimized parameters. The dot structure is replicated 97% and the pyramid structure is replicated 96%. The proposed design for a composite light guide plate with a double-sided structure significantly increases the central average brightness and the uniformity of luminance.