Ultrafast UV-Curable Adhesives for Optical Pick-Ups

This paper describes novel ultraviolet (UV)-curable adhesives with an ultrafast curing rate which are fully cured within 8 s for optical pick-up (OPU) applications. Two kinds of oligomers (novolac epoxy acrylate and urethane acrylate), additives, and inorganic fillers were prepared for the formulation of the adhesives. In addition, three kinds of photo-initiator 2,2-dimethoxy-2-phenylacetophenone and 2-hydroxy-2-methylpropiophenone for surface curing and (2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl) diphenyl phosphine oxide (TMDPO) for deep curing] were mixed to increase the curing rate. Photo-differential scanning calorimetry (photo-DSC) analyses showed that the newly formulated UV adhesives had faster curing rate than conventional UV adhesives. The UV adhesives were applied to OPUs for DVD/CD-RW, and five kinds of reliability tests, i.e., thermal shock, low-temperature storage, high-temperature storage, high temperature/high humidity, and nonoperation shock tests, were conducted to evaluate the adhesive reliability. According to the results of reliability tests and thermal stress simulations, the UV adhesives with lower storage modulus (E′) showed better thermal shock reliability due to lower thermal stresses. In addition, OPUs assembled using the UV adhesives passed all reliability tests. Consequently, the UV adhesives were successfully applied to OPUs in OPU production lines, contributing to mass production.