Can anyone suggest anywhere to source PDLC mixture? It is used in smart films and smart glass. Is made of some polymer and liquid crystal.

http://www.canaanchem.com is the only company I found and their sales is pita to talk with, refuse to give any kind of information on the requirements (tooling, etc.) for proper usage of the mixture unless you buy a $1300 sample bottle. How am I expected to buy a sample if I don't know whether I'll need a $10000 equipment to apply it beforehand??

So yeah, if anyone can find a different manufacturer or supplier that would be great...

 

Qingdao QY Liquid Crystal Co., Ltd.
https://message.alibaba.com/msgsend...celog=from_miniDetail&mloca=po_en_site_detail

https://liquidcryatal.en.ecplaza.net/products
Samples - free

 

Check the "Contact us" section of the website I linked to, you linked to the same company.

 

Seems they are global monopolist

 

I could maybe work with them if they had more than one sales manager answering emails. I hate hating on people but she's like a robot with no logical reasoning replying with copy-paste responses like "this is company policy", "minimum sample is $1300" and "usage instructions will be provided only after you buy sample". Come to think of it this is all she replies with, kind of like a chat bot.

 

Shenzhen Nanshan District Magaoding Chemical Materials Factory
https://sandozgroup.en.alibaba.com/product/60689754469-802739561/Nematic_liquid_crystal_mixture.html

 

Very nice find Danko.
I discussed with them and will get a sample shipped after the chinese holidays.

Any ideas how the mixture is applied to the plastic film?
The only provided info was suggested thickness for the mixture and UV glue mix should be between 15-20 nm. Not sure what equipment can be used for applying such a creamy liquid evenly and at a specified thickness.

I know this is not much about electronics, but this is controlled with electric field and PCB will come after I figure this out.

 

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/aoe/2008/684349/
http://www.academia.edu/4223975/Con...rfaces_Created_by_in_Situ_Photopolymerization
http://www.ee.bgu.ac.il/~oaharon/myresearch/LC/theory/Liquid Crystal Display Fabrication.pdf
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13583149808047713
http://www.google.com/patents/CN102220139A?cl=en
http://www.google.com/patents/CN101007949A?cl=en
https://patents.google.com/patent/CN102096225A/en
Equipment:
http://www.intercomet.com/pdlc_film.html
https://patents.google.com/patent/CN102096225A/en

 

Not sure what equipment can be used for applying such a creamy liquid evenly and at a specified thickness.

No equipment, only 15-20nm glass spheres added to mixture. Some kind of spacers. Then roll two plastic films together.

 

Thanks. That machinery looks huge and only something a factory might afford.
That said I haven't finished going through the articles you linked to.

I did not expect to find usage of glass spheres also known as glass beads here, because they introduce retro reflections and what are used for when mixed with road and road sign paint. Must be really small amount used otherwise a lot of backlight will just bounce back to the emitter and burn it.

 

Must be really small amount used otherwise a lot of backlight will just bounce back to the emitter and burn it.

Doesn't that rather depend on the refractive indices of the glass and the PDLC? If the two are very close there shouldn't be any significant reflection.

 

These beads do not interact with light because they are much smaller than light wavelength (15-20nm versus 400-650nm). No refraction, no reflection.

 

Wait, nanometers? My bad, I thought we were talking about microns. Glass beads used for retro reflection are measured in microns so much bigger.

 

Sorry but supplier suggested layer thickness of PDLC of 20-30 micrometer, not nanometer. I don't understand how a nanometer spacer can help with micrometer-scale layer. Unless the link is talking about LCD screens, not PDLC.

 

Maybe this article will help you...
http://www.bjp-bg.com/papers/bjp2013_4_301-306.pdf

 

Okay, I finally went through all of the articles.

Patents mention a method of applying coating via "rollers". And few of them mention usage of 5-20 um (micron/micrometre, not nanometre)
glass beads for even spacing. So even spacing across the sheets is likely controlled by those. Admittedly the wording especially in the chinese patents is confusing but they don't mention what kind of rollers they are talking about. If we want the thickness to remain the same after being rolled we will either need to apply something like a thick glass sheet on top of the PETs and PLDC sandwitch and rely on the spacers for the uniformity and apply UV light through the thick glass.
OR
quickly cure the glue as the sheet sandwhich is coming out from the other side pf the roller.

These are the only two options I can think of.