48.1: Behavior of LCD Panel During Bending

When an LCD panel is subjected to pure bending, for example during strength measurement or proof testing, the question arises “does it behave as a monolith of twice the substrate thickness? or does it behave as two independent substrates?”. Both theory and experiment suggest that the panel behavior depends on how its edges are held together, i.e. well bonded? or loosely held together? Indeed, the former renders the panel nearly twice as strong and four fold as stiff as the latter. This paper will provide the analysis of the bending behavior of a two‐layer laminate using St Venant flexure theory. Experimental data, using strain gages, will demonstrate that an LCD panel can behave either as a monolith of twice the substrate thickness or two independent substrates depending on how its four edges are held together in the support structure including the bezel. The paper derives appropriate equations for computing panel strength when it is bent to constant curvature or when its specimens are flexed in 4‐point bending for both i) well bonded edges and ii) loosely held edges.