High temperature nanoindentation of protective acrylate coating for OLED lighting

OLED light panels are ultra-thin, flexible, and energy-efficient lighting sources that emits high-quality, soft, and evenly distributed light in response to an electric current. Unlike traditional lighting, OLEDs emit light directly from organic materials, allowing for innovative designs and easier integrations into various surfaces. Their unique properties make them ideal for applications in automotive sector, architectural lighting, consumer electronics, and wearable technology, where both aesthetics and performance are crucial. However, OLED light panels suffer from harsh external environment, which reduces their lifespan. Therefore, acrylate coatings are used in OLED lighting to enhance their durability and protect sensitive components. These coatings provide a robust barrier against environmental factors like moisture, oxygen, and UV light, which can degrade the organic materials in OLEDs.
Acrylate coatings are preferred due to their flexibility, transparency, and ability to form thin, uniform layers, which preserve the light quality while offering protection. This makes them essentials in applications where long-term reliability and performance are critical, such as in automotive lighting, architectural designs, and high-end displays. In many of these applications the OLED devices operate in environments where they are exposed to elevated temperatures, which can lead to accelerated degradation of the organic acrylate coatings. Characterizing the behavior of acrylate coatings at elevated temperatures is therefore crucial for ensuring a long-term reliability of OLED lighting. By studying how these coatings perform at elevated temperature, manufacturers can then assess and predict more easily their thermal stability and overall protective capabilities. It can help in optimizing the coating formulation, ensuring that the OLEDs maintain their performance and lifespan even in challenging outdoor conditions. The characterization however has to be done on a relatively thin coating (~50 μm) – and the most appropriate method for such local characterization is nanoindentation. This method is dedicated to characterization of thin coatings and can also be done at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, it is capable of dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) for measurement of viscoelastic properties.