Method for manufacturing a coated lens

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12005659-B2
Application number	US-202218145182-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2022
Priority date	Jun 26, 2020
Publication date	Jun 11, 2024
Grant date	Jun 11, 2024

Abstract

A method for manufacturing a coated lens by applying at least one single electromagnetic pulse to convert a coating precursor material into at least one coating. The electromagnetic pulse is delivered to the coating precursor material applied on a surface of an uncoated or precoated optical lens substrate. The at least one single electromagnetic pulse is applied from an electromagnetic source such as a flash lamp, a halogen lamp, a directed plasma arc, a laser, a microwave generator, an induction heater, an electron beam, a stroboscope, or a mercury lamp.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for manufacturing of a coated lens, the method comprising at least the steps of:
applying at least one coating precursor material to at least one surface of an uncoated or precoated optical lens substrate; and
applying at least one single electromagnetic pulse to an optical lens substrate having the at least one coating precursor material to dry and to harden and/or to sinter and/or to cure the at least one coating precursor material for converting the at least one coating precursor material into at least one coating,

wherein
within a range for a total process duration needed for drying and hardening and/or sintering and/or curing the at least one coating precursor material selected from the group of ranges consisting of:
from 100 us to 10 min,
from 300 us to 7 min,
from 500 us to 5 min,
from 1 ms to 3 min,

at least one mechanical property and/or at least one optical property and/or at least one functional property of the coated lens is adjusted to meet a given requirement for at least one of the properties or to obtain a specific target value for at least one of the properties,
wherein the given requirement for the at least one of the properties is met or the specific target value for the at least one of the properties is obtained during the total process duration needed for drying and hardening and/or sintering and/or curing the at least one coating precursor material.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the at least one mechanical property of the coated lens is adjusted by selecting between different target values for the mechanical property, and/or
the at least one optical property of the coated lens is adjusted by selecting between different target values for the optical property, and/or
the at least one functional property of the coated lens is adjusted by selecting between different target values for the functional property.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mechanical property is selected from the group consisting of indentation hardness, scratch resistance, adhesion, delamination, crazing and water uptake of the optical lens substrate,
wherein the optical property is selected from the group consisting of transmittance, absorbance and reflectance, preferably, from wavelengths ranging from 300 nm to 780 nm, clarity, and yellowing,
wherein the functional property is selected from the group consisting of control of the surface wetting, the photochromic performance, the surface cleanability, tint absorption or uptake, the surface tension and the chemical composition,
each of the coated lens.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the selection of the target value is performed by changing at least one process parameter within a recipe or by changing a combination of process parameters within a recipe.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating precursor material is at least one selected from the group consisting of at least one primer coating precursor material, at least one hard coating precursor material and at least one photochromic coating precursor material.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one coating precursor material does not comprise a photoinitiator.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one hard coating precursor material comprises
A) a) at least one silane derivative of the formula (III) R 1 R 2 3-n Si(OR 3 ) n , wherein R 1 comprises an alkyl group, a cyclo alkyl group, an acyl group, an aryl group or an hetero aryl group, each of which may be substituted, R 2 is an organic rest comprising an epoxide group, R= 3 comprises an alkyl group, a cyclo alkyl group, an aryl group or a hetero aryl group, each of which may be substituted, n=2 or 3, and/or
b) at least one hydrolysis product of the silane derivative of the formula (III), and/or
c) at least one condensation product of the silane derivative of the formula (III), and/or
d) any mixture of components a) to c);

B) at least one colloidal inorganic oxide, hydroxide, oxide hydrate, fluoride and/or oxyfluoride;
C) at least one epoxy component comprising at least two epoxy groups; and
D) at least one catalyst system comprising at least one Lewis acid and at least one thermolatent Lewis base-adduct.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one primer coating precursor material comprises
i) at least one aqueous aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic polyurethane dispersion, at least one aqueous aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic polyurea dispersion, at least one aqueous aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic polyurethane-polyurea dispersion, at least one aqueous aliphatic, cycloaliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic polyester dispersion,
ii) at least one solvent, and
iii) optionally, at least one additive.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one primer coating precursor material comprises the at least one aqueous aliphatic polyurethane dispersion or the at least one aqueous aliphatic polyester dispersion.

10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the at least one primer coating precursor material comprises the at least one aqueous aliphatic polyurethane dispersion.

11. A method for manufacturing of a coated lens, the method comprising at least the steps of
applying at least one coating precursor material to at least one surface of an uncoated or precoated optical lens substrate,
drying and hardening and/or sintering and/or curing the at least one coating precursor material by applying at least one single electromagnetic pulse to an optical lens substrate having the coating precursor material to convert the at least one coating precursor material into at least one coating,

wherein
at least one mechanical property and/or at least one optical property and/or at least one functional property each of the coated lens is adjusted based on a recipe used for the conversion of the at least one coating precursor material into at least one coating, the recipe being a selection of a plurality of process parameters which are simultaneously or sequentially used to meet a requirement or to obtain a target value of exact one mechanical property and/or exact one optical property and/or exact one functional property.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the process parameters are selected of at least one from the group consisting of the wavelength of light used, the number of single electromagnetic pulses in an electromagnetic pulse train, the peak intensity of the at least one single electromagnetic pulse, the total process duration, the total dose delivered by the at least one single electromagnetic pulse, the number of micro-pulses within a one single electromagnetic pulse, the average duty cycle, the duration of the envelope, and the total number of repetitions of the at least one single electromagnetic pulse.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein changing the process parameters within a recipe, or changing the combination of process parameters within a recipe, or changing at least one process parameter within a recipe each result in a variation of the target value of the mechanical property, and/or the target value of the optical property, and/or the target value of the functional property.

14. A method for manufacturing a coated lens, the coated lens comprising an uncoated or precoated optical lens substrate and at least one coating, the method comprising the following steps:
a) providing at least one uncoated or precoated optical lens substrate having a front surface and a

Assignees

• Zeiss Carl Vision Int Gmbh

Inventors

• Karim Waiz
• Llobera Adan Andreu
• Aziz Emad Flear
• Hugenberg Norbert

Classifications

• B29D11/00442

  Curing the lens material · CPC title

• G02B1/14

  Protective coatings, e.g. hard coatings · CPC title

• G02B3/0012

  characterised by the manufacturing method · CPC title

• B29D11/00865 Primary

  Applying coatings; tinting; colouring (printing, marking or copying processes B41M; identification in general G09F3/00; producing decorative effects in general B44C; positioning or marking of lenses B24B13/0055) · CPC title

• B29D11/00009 Primary

  Production of simple or compound lenses · CPC title