JPH0699887B2 - Reflector manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention is applied to road signs, construction signboards, commercial signboards, guide boards, and other signs, displays, and signboards that allow accurate and visible information transmission outdoors. The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a retroreflective material used.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a retroreflective material (hereinafter simply referred to as "reflecting material") formed by using fine glass spheres having a high refractive index has a characteristic of efficiently retroreflecting light toward an incident light source, It is mainly used for traffic signs, guide signs, car license plates, safety clothing for police officers and road workers, advertising signs, and accessories to improve visibility at night and prevent traffic accidents. Then, these signs are signs (hereinafter referred to as reflection signs) that utilize the reflection characteristics of the reflecting material as described above.

On the other hand, as a sign, there is a light source installed inside a box, which is called an internal lighting type. These internally illuminated signs
There are those in which the symbol portion to be displayed is formed of a fixed resin plate or glass plate, and there are variable markers in which the symbol portion to be displayed changes, for example, every certain time due to vertical movement, rotation, rewinding, and the like. Among them, the former internal lighting type signs whose display contents are fixed display the pattern part on the resin plate or glass plate as described above and diffuse the transmitted light so that the pattern looks uniform brightness. Is taken into consideration. Further, there is one further provided with a retroreflective function. This is used, for example, in applications such as traffic signs where the light source for internal lighting is cut off and the display function of the light source cannot be temporarily lost.

As an internal illumination type mark with the retroreflective function as described above, on the inner surface of the outermost surface of the pattern display plate illuminated by the internal light source, a fine glass sphere is formed on the fine surface of the mesh fabric having light transmittance. It is known that an embedded retroreflective cloth is overlaid and a milky white translucent film is lined on the back surface thereof (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 48-82163). Even if the light source goes out at night, such a sign does not lose its visibility by retroreflecting the light of the headlight.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention When the reflective material is used for various reflective signs, a pattern for display is prepared by cutting or adhering a predetermined reflective material to an adherend, or Although it is done by printing on the surface, the former method requires very complicated work, and it is difficult to create a delicate pattern, and the latter method prints on the surface of the reflective material. A layer may be formed and a reflection characteristic may change.

As a method of forming the retroreflective portion in a pattern as described above, Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-357 discloses that a sheet base material is coated with a temporary adhesive, and transparent glass microspheres are adhered to the glass microsphere. A reflective coating is provided on the spherical surface by vapor deposition of metal, a heat-melting type adhesive layer is attached to the surface, the adhesive side of the sheet is overlaid on the design object, and the design is pressed from above with a heating convex type, Only the heat-pressed portion is welded to the surface of the design object, and the sheet base material and the temporary adhesive applied to the sheet substrate can be peeled off together with the retroreflective sheet of the non-welded portion from the glass microspheres attached to the temporary adhesive of the welded portion. Have been described. However, in this method, the retroreflective sheet of the pattern portion is welded by pressing with a heating convex type, but since the heating and pressing is a convex type from the back surface of the sheet base material via the temporary adhesive layer, There is a problem that it is difficult to obtain a delicate pattern, and the heat-melting adhesive other than the pattern part is wasted and the cost becomes high.

On the other hand, in the case of the internal illumination type sign provided with the retroreflective function, not only the production cost of the retroreflective cloth in which the fine glass spheres are embedded in the filament surface of the mesh fabric is complicated and the manufacturing cost becomes high, but also When manufacturing an internally illuminated sign using a retro-reflective cloth, the retro-reflective cloth base cloth is a mesh fabric, so it is weak, and when it is installed inside an internally-illuminated box, the work is difficult, and Since it is attached using an adhesive tape or the like, there are problems that the outer peripheral portion may come off or wrinkle during use.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, and easily obtains a reflective material having a delicate pattern, and furthermore, a reflective material of high brightness used for a reflective sign can be obtained by selecting an adherend, and a retroreflective material. An object of the present invention is to provide a method of manufacturing a reflective material, which can be used for a reflective internally illuminated sign.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to solve the above problems, the method for producing a reflecting material of the present invention is such that a non-adhesive resin layer provided on the surface of a substrate has one of a number of transparent micro glass spheres. Part is buried, and the spherical surface of the unembedded part of the fine glass sphere is metal-deposited to provide a reflective layer to form a laminated body, and a thermocompression-bonding adhesive is applied to the reflective layer surface of the laminated body with the coated part Parts are applied to a pattern of a continuous pattern alternately arranged, and the applied surface is overlapped with an adherend having a light-transmitting property, and heat and pressure are applied from above to adhere the pattern part, and then the above-mentioned The non-adhesive resin layer and the substrate are peeled off from the micro glass spheres of the design part together with the laminate of the part where the thermocompression-bonding adhesive is not applied, and the retroreflective part and the non-reflective part are alternately arranged. It is characterized in that a reflective material having the above-mentioned continuous pattern is obtained. It

In the above-mentioned method of the present invention, paper or polyester film is used as a substrate, and a non-adhesive resin layer is laminated on one surface of the substrate. As the non-adhesive resin, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, or the like is used. Form a 40μ layer. The non-adhesive resin layer has a diameter of 50 to 60 μm and a transparent micro glass sphere having a refractive index of 1.7 to 2.2 is dispersed in a substantially single layer and heated to a temperature of 80 to 120 ° C. 50% is temporarily embedded in the non-adhesive resin. Next, on the surface where the micro glass sphere is exposed, the thickness of aluminum etc.
A metal vapor-deposited film with a thickness of around 800Å is provided to form a reflective layer to form a laminated body. On the reflective layer surface of this laminate, a thermocompression-bonding adhesive liquid such as an acrylic-urethane system is printed and applied in a desired pattern by a method such as a silk screen method, and dried. The adhesive-coated surface of the laminate is overlaid on a desired adherend, and then a thermocompression machine or the like is used.
By heating and pressurizing at 80 to 100 ° C., the adhesive coated portion is adhered to the adherend. Then, by removing the laminated body, the micro glass spheres of the portion corresponding to the portion to which the thermocompression-bonding adhesive is applied are peeled from the non-adhesive resin layer to obtain a reflecting material having a retroreflective portion with a desired pattern. .

In the above, a retroreflective material particularly suitable for an internal illumination type sign can be obtained depending on the shape to which the thermocompression-bonding adhesive is applied, that is, the shape of the pattern and the type of the adherend. That is, the area where the thermocompression-bonding adhesive is applied (retroreflective area) is relatively finely and evenly distributed, and the total area of that area is 20 to 70% of the total, and the adherend is transparent or semitransparent. If a resin film, a plate, a glass plate, or the like is used, a light-transmissive retroreflective material can be obtained, which is an optimal reflective material for an internal illumination type sign. Here, the shape of the portion to which the thermocompression-bonding adhesive is applied is a continuous pattern such as a circle, a triangle, a quadrangle, and a hexagonal shape, and it is desirable that they are evenly arranged in a grid pattern or the like, and one area is 1 to 100 mm ^2. You can select within the range of
The light transmittance may be 25% or more when used as an internal illumination type sign, and is usually 30% or more as a reflective material.

According to the method of the present invention, the pattern of the retroreflective portion to be formed is determined by the shape of the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer that is sharply formed, so that the shape of the retroreflective portion is very precise. Any pattern, including fine ones, can be obtained, and a wide variety of reflective materials can be obtained from those for general reflective signs to those for internally illuminated signs that require light transmission.

Action In the above-mentioned configuration, of the reflection material having the retroreflective portion in a pattern, the pattern of the retroreflective portion is determined by the design of the thermocompression-bonding adhesive layer applied to the reflective layer provided on the fine glass spherical surface. , The pattern of the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer is extremely sharply formed by a method such as ordinary printing, so that the pattern can be formed very finely on the retroreflective portion, and the size and arrangement of the pattern, The adherend and the like can be arbitrarily selected, and a wide variety of reflecting materials including a light-transmitting material can be obtained.

EXAMPLE FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view for explaining the process of the present invention. A 75 μm-thick polyester film is used as the substrate 1, a 35 μm-thick low-density polyethylene film is used as the non-adhesive resin layer 2, and both are laminated, and a diameter of 50-60 μm is provided on the surface of the low-density polyethylene film. Refractive index 1.92
Of the transparent glass microspheres 3 are sprayed and heated at 110 ° C. for 3 minutes to temporarily embed about 50% of the diameter of the glass microspheres 3 in the layer of the low density polyethylene film. Vacuum deposition of aluminum on the exposed surface to a thickness of about 80
The laminated body 5 was formed by providing the 0Å reflective layer 4 (FIG. 1 (a)). On the surface of the reflective layer 4 of this laminated body 5, acrylic-
A urethane-based thermocompression-bonding adhesive solution is applied in a checkerboard pattern as shown in FIG. 2 (a) by a silk screen method, and one quadrilateral has a side of 4 mm and a thickness of about 50 μ. The adhesive layer 6 was formed (FIG. 1 (a)). Next, the side of the thermocompression-bonding adhesive layer 6 formed on the laminate 5 is overlaid on the milky white acrylic plate 7, and the temperature is 87 ° C. using a thermocompression bonding machine.
The laminate 5 is adhered to the acrylic plate 7 through the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer 6 in the checkered pattern by heating and pressing for 3 minutes.
Then, when the laminated body 5 is removed, the area where the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer 6 is formed adheres to the acrylic plate 7, and the micro glass spheres 3 in that area are easily formed from the non-adhesive resin layer 2 made of low density polyethylene film. Which is peeled off and has a retroreflective part 8 having a pattern exactly the same as the checkerboard pattern of the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer 6 and a through hole 9 exposing the acrylic plate 7.
10 was obtained (Fig. 1 (b)).

The area ratio of the retroreflective part 8 and the translucent part 9 of the above-mentioned reflective material 10 is approximately 1: 1 (each approximately 50% of the total), and the observation angle is 0.2.
230, 200-200 Candela Lux, and Scaremeter at an incident angle of -4 °. Therefore, the area of the translucent portion 9 is
Even if it is 80%, that is, even if the area of the retroreflective part 8 is about 20%, the reflection performance shows 90 to 100 candela looks and a scare meter, and it is specified by JIS Z9117 "Security Reflective Sheet and Tape". It is possible to satisfy the reflection performance of the first class or higher.

In addition, when a 40-watt light bulb was installed at a distance of 5 cm behind the milky-white acrylic plate 7 of the retroreflective material 10 obtained as described above, and the illuminance on the surface of the reflective material 10 was measured. , 3000 lux (6000 lux for acrylic plate 7 alone), which was significantly higher than the illuminance of 2000 lux on the sample surface, which is usually required to secure visual recognition.

Instead of the checkerboard pattern shown in FIG. 2 (a) of the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer 6 applied to the laminate 5 in the above-mentioned example, the scale pattern shown in FIG. 2 (b). It was applied to a rectangular pattern (8 mm in the bottom of the triangle, 4 mm in height), and a reflective material having a retro-reflective part of a scaly pattern was manufactured by the same method, but it showed the same performance as that of the checkered pattern. It was

When an internal illumination type sign was manufactured using the reflective material 10 obtained in the above-mentioned example, the reflective material 10 is an acrylic plate 7 to which the adherend is hard, and therefore work such as mounting in the box body is extremely easy. Moreover, it could be mounted using screws, etc., could be assembled robustly and beautifully, could be used for a long period of time, and at low cost, it had excellent lighting and reflection functions.

The adherend may be a translucent one such as a milky white acrylic plate 7, or may be a transparent and arbitrary material, and exhibits high brightness and excellent performance as a reflective sign.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, the pattern of the retroreflective portion of the reflective material having the retroreflective portion of an arbitrary pattern is determined by the design of the thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer formed in a sharp shape. Since it is possible to form a reflective material adherend with a pattern of a continuous pattern in which the retroreflective parts and the non-reflective parts are alternately arranged, it is light-transmissive and is most suitable for internal lighting type signs. A wide variety of reflectors can be easily obtained at low cost.

[Brief description of drawings]

1 (a) and 1 (b) are schematic cross-sectional views illustrating a process for carrying out the present invention, and FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are plan views illustrating the design of a thermocompression-bonding type adhesive layer. . 1 ... Substrate, 2 ... Non-adhesive resin layer, 3 ... Micro glass sphere, 4
... Reflective layer, 5 ... Laminated body, 6 ... Thermocompression bonding type adhesive layer, 7 ...
Adherend, 8 ... Retroreflective part, 10 ... Reflective material.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Shinichi Morimoto, 14-2 Sakahara, Wakachi-cho, Funai-gun, Kyoto Prefecture (72) Naohiko Ide 1-1, Ishihara Nagatacho, Kichijoin, Minami-ku, Kyoto Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture (56) References Japanese Patent Publication No. 52-357 (JP, B1) Actual Publication No. 54-8118 (JP, Y2)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A non-adhesive resin layer provided on the surface of a substrate, in which a part of a large number of transparent fine glass spheres is embedded, and the spherical surface of the non-embedded portion of the fine glass spheres is subjected to metal vapor deposition and reflected. Layers are formed to form a laminate, and a thermocompression-bonding adhesive is applied to the reflection layer surface of the laminate in a continuous pattern in which coating portions and non-coating portions are alternately arranged, and the coating surface is exposed to light. It is superposed on an adherend having transparency, and the above-mentioned design portion is adhered by heating and pressurizing it from above, and then the non-adhesive resin layer and the substrate are formed from the fine glass spheres of the above-mentioned design portion, the above-mentioned thermocompression-bonding adhesive. A method for producing a reflective material, characterized in that the reflective material having the pattern of the continuous pattern in which the retroreflective portions and the non-reflective portions are alternately arranged is peeled off together with the laminated body of the portion not coated with.