Optical and mechanical properties of jet printed and UV cured blue pixels with phosphated epoxy acrylate as the curing agent

Phosphated epoxy acrylate and phosphated imide-epoxy were synthesized and used as compositions of non-volatile (no solvent) UV curable ink for manufacturing the jet-printed LCD color filter (CF). Phosphated epoxy acrylate oligomer showed not only good solubility in UV curable monomers and pigment compatibility as ink compositions, but also good thermal and mechanical properties after curing. No receiver layer or barrier ribs are necessary to prevent the printed ink from overflowing to the neighboring area. The color inks were precisely ejected to the glass substrate and UV-cured immediately to make the stripe pattern. The printed blue stripes exhibited smooth surface, straight edge, high transparency (transmittance > 84%), high nanoindentation hardness (3.94 GPa) and modulus (72.15 GPa). The influences of curable compositions on the optical properties, patterning properties, surface morphology and nanoindentation hardness of the micro-stripes were discussed.