Provider of adhesives, coatings, and UV/LED curing equipment for OEMs, Panacol has developed new optical grade resins for imprint and optical bonding applications. These adhesives are typically used for light carpets in the automotive industry. They are also used in smart device sensors, wearables, and to create structured light in projectors or time-of-flight sensing applications, both for automotive and consumer products.
The company says it has successfully formulated resins for imprint replication of refractive lenses and diffractive optical elements (DOEs). These materials are highly suitable for micro- and nanoimprint lithography or wafer level optics. In addition to the suitability of these materials for commonly used glass wafers, the new generation products demonstrate outstanding adhesion to trending new polymer substrates including optical grade PET, PC or COP. Once applied and imprinted, the adhesives are quickly cured by UV light, creating a precise and durable structure. The optical properties are specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the targeted substrate.
New adhesive
One of the latest generation of optical materials, Vitralit UC 1633, features a further improved yellowing resistance, higher optical transmission, and superior shape retention. The adhesive is easy to demold from PDMS molds which makes it the perfect material to form microlenses such as those used in smart watches.
For unique optical applications and assembly, Panacol offers black UV-curable materials for shading and masking properties. “Black&Light” adhesives, such as Vitralit BL UC 1103, can be cured in thicker layers by light only, resulting in optical densities of up to 6 (highly blocking). For assembly of optical components the company offers a wide range of UV curable adhesives for bonding and alignment. For curing in shadow zones dual cure adhesives with a secondary moisture or heat curing step are available.
These optical materials and adhesives for optical bonding are efficiently cured with high intensity LED curing systems from Hönle, which perfectly match the wavelengths of the photoinitiators. Once cured, the manufacturer’s optical grade adhesives are flexible and tension equalizing, reducing the stress on dissimilar substrates.
