Lens coating curing methods
View Patent ↗A method that includes providing a lens having a first side, a second side, and an anti-reflective or mirror coating on the first side; depositing a heat-curable coating on the second side of the lens; and heating the heat-curable coating without damaging the anti-reflective or mirror coating. Another method that includes providing a non-pure polycarbonate lens having a first side, a second side, and a first coating on the first side; depositing a heat-curable coating on the second side of the lens; and heating the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating. Other methods are also disclosed.
1. A method comprising:
providing a lens having a first side, a second side, and a first coating on the first side;
depositing a heat-curable coating on the second side of the lens; and
heating the heat-curable coating during a period of time without damaging the first coating, wherein the lens is cooled during the heating of the heat-curable coating for at least a portion of said period of time to prevent the first coating from being damaged by the heating.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first coating is an anti-reflective or mirror coating.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the mirror coating comprises one or more layers of dielectric oxides.
4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the anti-reflective coating is a mono-or multilayer film of dielectric material.
5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the dielectric material is selected from the group consisting of: SiO, SiO2, Si3N4, TiO2, ZrO2, Al2O3, MgF2, Ta2O5 and mixtures thereof.
6. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the dielectric oxides are selected from the group consisting of: SiO, SiO2, TiO, and ZrO2.
7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first coating is a hard coating.
8. A method according to claim 7 , wherein the hard coating or layer comprises hydrolyzates of polyalkoxysilanes.
9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the hydrolyzates of polyalkoxysilanes are selected from the group consisting of epoxytrialkoxysilanes and epoxydialkoxysilanes.
10. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the hard coating or layer comprises fillers selected from the group consisting of: SiO2, TiO2, Sb2O5, Al2O3 and Fe2O3.
11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the lens includes a second coating applied to the first coating.
12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the first coating is a hard coating and the second coating is an anti-reflective or mirror coating.
13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the hard coating includes a primer layer and a hard layer.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the primer coating or layer is an impact-resistant primer coating chosen from (meth)acrylic based coatings and polyurethane based coatings.
15. The method according to claim 14 , wherein the primer coating or layer is made from a latex composition selected from the group consisting of: poly(meth)acrylic latexes, polyurethane latexes and polyester latexes.
16. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the first coating is a primer coating and the second coating is a hard coating.
17. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the heating results in heat curing the heat-curable coating such that neither the first coating nor the second coating is damaged by the heat curing.
18. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating results in heat curing the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating.
19. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating (a) results in heat curing the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating, and (b) takes no more than one hour.
20. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating (a) results in heat curing the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating, and (b) takes no more than 30 minutes.
21. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating (a) results in heat curing the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating, and (b) takes no more than 5 minutes.
22. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
depositing a second-side sol-gel anti-reflective coating on the heat-curable coating; and
wherein the heating comprises heat curing the second-side anti-reflective coating and the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating.
23. The method according to claim 22 , wherein the heat-curable coating is a hard coating and wherein a ultra-violet (UV) curable primer coating is disposed between the second side and the hard coating.
24. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heat-curable coating is a heat-curable hard coating.
25. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heat-curable coating is a heat-curable anti-reflective coating.
26. The method according to claim 25 , wherein the anti-reflective coating is a sol-gel anti-reflective coating that includes at least two layers with different refractive indices.
27. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising surfacing the lens to a prescription power.
28. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating comprises convective heating.
29. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating comprises intermittently applying heat to the heat-curable coating.
30. The method according to claim 29 , wherein the lens is positioned on a circular conveyor belt during the heating and the cooling.
31. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling comprises conductive cooling.
32. The method according to claim 31 , wherein cooling includes cooling the lens using a liquid.
33. The method according to claim 32 , wherein cooling includes cooling the lens using a water-cooled lens holding device.
34. The method according to claim 33 , wherein the water-cooled lens holding device includes a curved lens holding surface and a cooling liquid forming a layer between the first side of the lens and the curved lens holding surface.
35. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the heating results in heat curing the heat-curable coating without damaging the first coating and cooling includes cooling the lens using a liquid such that the temperature of the first coating does not reach or exceed 50° C. during the heat curing.
36. The method according to claim 35 , wherein the heat curing includes heating the heat-curable coating on the second side of the lens to a surface temperature of at least 100° C., preferably 150-170° C.
37. The method according to claim 35 , wherein the heat curing includes heating the heat-curable coating on the second side of the lens to a surface temperature of 150-170° C.
38. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the cooling comprises convective cooling.
39. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portion of the period of time is less than the period of time.
40. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the portion of the period of time is the same as the period of time.