Sony Chemical & Information Device Corporation

Sony Corporation

Zemin Shi

Tadashi Akamatsu

Michio Sato

Tsuneo Hanada

Kaori Seki

Hiroyuki Torisu

A polarizing plate has a polarizer and a protective film formed on at least one surface of the polarizer. The protective film is formed by curing an energy ray-curable composition that contains at least one of a first energy ray-polymerizing compound having a bisphenol residue, a second energy ray-polymerizing compound having a neopentylglycol group, a third energy ray-polymerizing compound having a trimethylolpropane group, and a fourth energy ray-polymerizing compound having a pentaerythritol group. In the polarizing plate, though the protective film is thin, the polarizer is protected from the influence of external moisture, etc., and therefore its polarizability is kept good even in high-temperature high-humidity environments.

Polarizing plate

A simple technique for introducing a hybrid alignment or a homeotropic (vertical) alignment into liquid crystal films, which, by their nature, tend to have a horizontal alignment of liquid crystal molecules. The technique does not require special alignment films. A liquid crystal composition for forming a liquid crystal film contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound and a hydrolysate of an alkoxysilane compound. The hydrolysate of the alkoxysilane compound contains a siloxane oligomer of which degree of polymerization is from 2 to 25. Furthermore, the alkoxysilane compound is a trialkoxysilane compound having a functional group. This liquid crystal film composition can be produced by hydrolyzing an alkoxysilane compound to obtain a hydrolysate and then uniformly mixing the hydrolysate with a polymerizable liquid crystal compound. Alternatively, it can be obtained by uniformly mixing the alkoxysilane compound with the polymerizable liquid crystal compound and subsequently hydrolyzing the alkoxysilane compound in the mixture. One mole of the alkoxysilane compound is preferably hydrolyzed with 0.1 d to 2.0 d mol of water, given that the number of alkoxyl groups in a molecule of the alkoxysilane compound is d. An optically anisotropic film can be obtained by applying the liquid crystal film composition to a base film, causing the liquid crystal molecules in the composition to alignment in a nematic alignment, and curing the composition. The alignment of the liquid crystal molecules in the film is preferably a nematic hybrid or nematic hemeotropic (vertical) alignment.

Composition for forming liquid crystal film, optically anisotropic film, and production method thereof

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Kanuma, Japan

Zemin Shi