What is claimed is:
1. A diffusion film comprising a transparent polymeric film base bearing a plurality of integral contiguous layers, each layer having a pattern of complex lenses on a surface thereof, at least two such contiguous layers comprising material having an index of refraction differing by at least 0.1.
2. The film of claim 1 wherein the number of contiguous layers is between 2 and 11 layers.
3. The film of claim 1 wherein the number of said contiguous layers is between 2 and 5.
4. The film of claim 1 wherein a smoothing layer that is flat on one side is provided on the surface of the complex lenses.
5. The film of claim 4 wherein the smoothing layer has a thickness of 5 to 200 micrometers.
6. The film of claim 5 wherein the smoothing layer has a thickness of 5 to 30 micrometers.
7. The film of claim 4 wherein the smoothing layer has a thickness uniformity across the smoothing layer of 0.2 to 0.17 micrometers.
8. The film of claim 4 wherein the smoothing layer comprises a polymer.
9. The film of claim 4 wherein the smoothing layer comprises an inorganic material.
10. The film of claim 5 wherein the smoothing layer comprises an acrylic or urethane polymer.
11. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lens comprises an outer layer sufficient to provide the film with an impact resistance between 0.3 and 0.85 GPa.
12. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses are randomly distributed on the contiguous layers.
13. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses are present on both the top and bottom surfaces of one of the contiguous layers.
14. The film of claim 1 wherein the concave or convex lenses on one layer are adjacent to layers with lenses of like orientation.
15. The film of claim 1 wherein the concave or convex lenses on one layer are adjacent to one layer with lenses of like geometry and one layer with lenses of opposite orientation.
16. The film of claim 1 wherein the concave or convex lenses on one layer are adjacent to layers with lenses of opposite orientation.
17. The film of claim 1 wherein each contiguous layer has a thickness of 5 to 200 micrometers.
18. The film of claim 1 wherein the each contiguous layer has a thickness of 15 to 30 micrometers.
19. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses have an average frequency in any direction of between 5 and 250 complex lensesmm.
20. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses have an average frequency in any direction of between 22 and 66 complex lensesmm.
21. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses have an average width in the x and y direction between 3 and 60 micrometers.
22. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses have an average width in the x and y direction between 15 and 40 micrometers.
23. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses comprise minor lenses wherein the diameter is on average less than 80% of the diameter of the major lens with which they are associated.
24. The film of claim 1 wherein the complex lenses comprise a multiple of minor lenses wherein the minor lenses have a width in the x and y direction between 2 and 20 micrometers.
25. The film of claim 24 wherein the complex lenses have a width in the x and y direction between 3 and 8 micrometers.
26. The film of claim 1 wherein at least one contiguous layer comprises an olefin repeating unit.
27. The film of claim 1 wherein at least one contiguous layer comprises a carbonate repeating unit.
28. The film of claim 1 wherein at least one contiguous layer comprises an ester repeating unit.
29. The film of claim 1 wherein the transparent film base comprises an ester repeating unit.
30. The film of claim 1 wherein the transparent film base comprises a carbonate repeating unit.
31. The film of claim 1 wherein the transparent film base comprises an olefin repeating unit.
32. The film of claim 1 wherein the transparent film comprises tri acetyl cellulose.
33. The film of claim 1 wherein the diffuse light transmission is greater than 50%.
34. The film of claim 1 wherein the diffuse light transmission is between 70 and 95%.
35. The film of claim 1 wherein the diffuse light transmission is greater than 92%.
36. The film of claim 1 wherein said complex lenses are semi-spherical.
37. The film of claim 1 wherein said complex lenses are aspherical.
38. The film of claim 1 wherein said complex lenses have a heightdiameter ratio of between 0.03 to 1.0.
39. The film of claim 38 wherein said complex lenses have a heightdiameter ratio of between 0.25 to 0.48.
40. The film of claim 1 wherein the number of minor lenses per major lens is between 2 and 60.
41. The film of claim 40 wherein the number of minor lenses per major lens is between 5 and 18.
42. The film of claim 1 having a thickness less than 250 micrometers.
43. The film of claim 1 having a thickness between 12.5 and 100 micrometers.
44. A back lighted imaging media comprising a light source and a diffusion film comprising a base bearing a plurality of contiguous layers having a pattern of convex or concave complex lenses on a surface thereof, at least two contiguous layers differing in index of refraction by at least 0.1.
45. A liquid crystal device comprising a light source and a diffusion film comprising a base bearing a plurality of contiguous layers having a pattern of convex or concave complex lenses on a surface thereof, at least two contiguous layers differing in index of refraction by at least 0.1.
46. A liquid crystal device component comprising a light source and a diffusion film comprising a base bearing a plurality of contiguous layers having a pattern of convex or concave complex lenses on a surface thereof, at least two contiguous layers differing in index of refraction by at least 0.1.
47. A method for forming a plurality of polymeric complex lenses in a desired pattern on a transparent support comprising the step of coating a melted layer of the polymeric material onto the base and cooling the material while subjecting the layer to a contact with a form having a pattern corresponding to the negative of the desired pattern, and then repeating the coating steps and forming steps over the previously formed lenses.
48. A method for forming a plurality of polymeric complex lenses in a desired pattern on a transparent support comprising continuous casting onto a chill roll of the polymeric material onto the support and cooling the material while subjecting the layer to a contact with a form having a pattern corresponding to the negative of the desired pattern, and then repeating the casting steps and forming steps over the previously formed lenses.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
What is claimed is:
1. A water based intercoat coating composition containing (A) a polyester resin comprising, as essential components, an alicyclic polybasic acid (a1) andor an alicyclic polyhydric alcohol (a2), other polybasic acid (a3) and other polyhydric alcohol (a4), (B) a crosslinking agent, and (C) a water based urethane resin emulsion.
2. A water based intercoat coating composition as claimed in claim 1, wherein a content of the alicyclic polybasic acid (a1) andor the alicyclic polyhydric alcohol (a2) in the polyester resin (A) is in the range of 20 to 70% by weight based on a total solid content of the alicyclic polybasic acid (a1) andor the alicyclic polyhydric alcohol (a2), the other polybasic acid (a3) and the other polyhydric alcohol (a4).
3. A water based intercoat coating composition as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the water based urethane resin emulsion (C) is in the range of 0.1 to 100 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of a total solid content of the polyester resin (A) and the crosslinking agent (B).
4. A water based intercoat coating composition as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the water based urethane resin emulsion (C) is an emulsion obtained by reacting an active hydrogen-containing compound (c1), a compound (c2) having an active hydrogen group and a hydrophilic group in the molecule and an organic polyisocyanate (C3) to obtain a resin, followed by dispersing or dissolving the resin into water.
5. A water based intercoat coating composition as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the crosslinking agent (B) is at least one curing agent selected from the group consisting of a blocked polyisocyanate curing agent (b1), a water-dispersible blocked polyisocyanate curing agent (b2) and a melamine resin (b3).
6. A water based intercoat coating composition as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said water based intrecoat coating composition further contains a flat-shaped pigment particle (D) in an amount of 0.1 to 50 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of a total solid content of the polyester resin (A) and the crosslinking agent (B).
7. A multi-layer coating film-forming method which comprises successively coating a cationic electrodeposition coating composition onto a substrate, coating a water based intercoat coating composition as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6, curing or not curing, and coating a topcoat coating composition to form at least one topcoat coating film layer.