Foldable apparatus, foldable substrate, and methods of making

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022291712-A1
Application number	US-202017638254-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 28, 2020
Priority date	Aug 29, 2019
Publication date	Sep 15, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

Foldable apparatus comprise a foldable substrate foldable about an axis and a substrate thickness defined between a first major surface and a second major surface. The foldable substrate comprises a central portion positioned between a first portion and a second portion. The first portion comprising a substrate thickness. The central portion comprises a central thickness that is less than the substrate thickness. In some embodiments, a width of central portion is about 45 millimeters or less. Methods of making a foldable apparatus comprise forming a recess in a first major surface of the foldable substrate. In some embodiments, methods comprise chemically strengthening the foldable substrate.

First claim

1 . A foldable apparatus comprising a foldable substrate foldable about an axis extending in a direction of a width of the foldable substrate, the foldable substrate further comprising:
a substrate thickness defined between a first major surface and a second major surface opposite the first major surface; a first portion comprising the substrate thickness and a first surface area of the first major surface; a second portion comprising the substrate thickness and a third surface area of the first major surface; and a central portion comprising a central thickness defined between a first central surface area and the second major surface opposite the first central surface area, the first central surface area attaching the first surface area to the third surface area, a width of the central portion is about 45 millimeters or less, and the central thickness is less than the substrate thickness, wherein the central portion is positioned between the first portion and the second portion in a direction of a length of the foldable substrate that is perpendicular to the direction of the width of the foldable substrate, and the foldable apparatus comprises a neutral stress configuration when the foldable apparatus is in a bent configuration.

2 . The foldable apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the foldable apparatus comprises a polymer-based portion positioned in a recess defined between the first central surface area of the central portion and a first plane that the first major surface extends along, and a movement of the foldable apparatus from a flat configuration to the neutral stress configuration corresponds to a maximum magnitude of a deviatoric strain of the polymer-based portion in a range from about 1% to about 8%.

3 . The foldable apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the maximum magnitude of the deviatoric strain is in a range from about 2% to about 6%.

4 . The foldable apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the foldable substrate of the foldable apparatus comprises an effective minimum bend radius in a range from about 1 millimeter to about 10 millimeters.

5 . The foldable apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the foldable substrate achieves an effective bend radius of 5 millimeters.

6 . The foldable apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the width of the central portion is in a range from about 2.8 times the effective minimum bend radius to about 6 times the effective minimum bend radius.

7 . The foldable apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the width of the central portion is in a range from about 2.8 millimeters to about 40 millimeters.

8 . The foldable apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate thickness is in a range from about 80 micrometers to about 2 millimeters.

9 . The foldable apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the substrate thickness is in a range from about 125 micrometers to about 200 micrometers.

10 . The foldable apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the central thickness is in a range from about 10 micrometers to about 125 micrometers.

11 . The foldable apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the range of the central thickness is from about 10 micrometers to about 50 micrometers.

12 . The foldable apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the central thickness is in a range from about 0.5% to about 13% of the substrate thickness.

13 . The foldable apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the substrate thickness is at least 71 micrometers greater than about 4 times the central thickness.

14 . A method of making a foldable apparatus comprising:
forming a recess in a first major surface of a foldable substrate that forms a first central surface area of a central portion attaching a first portion to a second portion, wherein the first portion comprises a first surface area and a second surface area opposite the first surface area, the second portion comprises a third surface area and a fourth surface area opposite the third surface area, the foldable substrate comprises a second major surface comprising the second surface area and the fourth surface area, and the foldable substrate comprises a first major surface opposite the second major surface, the first major surface comprising the first surface area and the third surface area; and curing a polymer-based portion disposed between the first portion and the second portion, wherein the foldable apparatus is in a bent configuration during the curing, wherein a movement of the foldable apparatus from a flat configuration to a neutral stress configuration corresponds to a maximum magnitude of a deviatoric strain of the polymer-based portion in a range from about 1% to about 8%.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising chemically strengthening the first central surface area of the central portion, the first surface area, the third surface area, and the second major surface.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the maximum magnitude of the deviatoric strain is in a range from about 2% to about 6%.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the polymer-based portion expands as a result of curing.

18 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the polymer-based portion comprises a negative coefficient of thermal expansion.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the polymer-based portion comprises particles of one or more of copper oxide, beta-quartz, a tungstate, a vanadate, a pyrophosphate, or a nickel-titanium alloy.

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein curing the polymer-based portion comprises a ring-opening metathesis polymerization.

Assignees

• Corning Inc

Inventors

• Baby Shinu
• Chen Naigeng
• Gross Timothy Michael
• Harris Jason Thomas
• Joshi Dhananjay
• Qaroush Yousef Kayed
• Weikel Arlin Lee
• Xu Tingge

Classifications

• G09F9/301

  flexible foldable or roll-able electronic displays, e.g. thin LCD, OLED · CPC title

• G06F1/1656

  Details related to functional adaptations of the enclosure, e.g. to provide protection against EMI, shock, water, or to host detachable peripherals like a mouse or removable expansions units like PCMCIA cards, or to provide access to internal components for maintenance or to removable storage supports like CDs or DVDs, or to mechanically mount accessories (mounting of accessories to a computer display G06F1/1607; display hoods G06F1/1603; cooling arrangements for portable computers G06F1/203) · CPC title

• C04B41/00

  After-treatment of mortars, concrete, artificial stone or ceramics; Treatment of natural stone (conditioning of the materials prior to shaping C04B40/00; applying liquids or other fluent materials to surfaces, in general B05; grinding or polishing B24; apparatus or processes for treating or working shaped articles of clay or other ceramic compositions, slag or mixtures containing cementitious material B28B11/00; working stone or stone-like materials B28D; glazes, other than cold glazes, C03C8/00; etching, surface-brightening or pickling compositions C09K13/00) · CPC title

• G06F1/1652

  the display being flexible, e.g. mimicking a sheet of paper, or rollable · CPC title

• H04M1/0214

  Foldable telephones, i.e. with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position (combined with translation movement H04M1/0235) · CPC title