As the material properties of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS) have an excessively wide margin for applications in automobile console boxes, ABS partly replaced with poly(L-lactic acid) (PLA) may be used for the same purpose with improved ecofriendliness if the corresponding deterioration of the material properties is acceptable through the choice of appropriate additives. ABS composites with 30 wt % renewable components (PLA and cellulose pulp) were prepared by melt compounding, and the material properties were examined as a function of the additive content. The changes in the mechanical properties of the ABS/ PLA blends were examined after the addition of cellulose pulp and two clays [Cloisite 25A (C25A) and sodium montmorillonite] as well as these two clays treated with bis(3-triethoxysilylpropyl)tetrasulfide (TESPT). The heat distortion temperatures of the composites were measured as a function of the content of the TESPT-treated C25A.

Electrically tunable focusing microlens arrays based on polarization independent optical phase of nano liquid crystal droplets dispersed in polymer matrix are demonstrated. Such an optical medium is optically isotropic which is so-called an optically isotropic liquid crystals (OILC). We not only discuss the optical theory of OILC, but also demonstrate polarization independent optical phase modulation based on the OILC. The experimental results and analytical discussion show that the optical phase of OILC microlens arrays results from mainly orientational birefringence which is much larger than the electric-field-induced birefringence (or Kerr effect). The response time of OILC microlens arrays is fast~5.3ms and the tunable focal length ranges from 3.4 mm to 3.8 mm. The potential applications are light field imaging systems, 3D integrating imaging systems and devices for augment reality.

The optically isotropic polymer dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) mode has been proposed by confining liquid crystal droplets, with average sizes less than the wavelength of visible light, in polymer network. This state has been achieved via polymerization‐induced phase separation (PIPS) method in pre‐polymer/LC mixture. The in‐plane field driven device shows a complete dark state in voltage ‘off’ under crossed polarizer and excellent white state with induced retardation by Kerr effect in voltage ‘on’ state with an ultrafast response time over a wide temperature range and high contrast ratio.

We propose a novel approach to achieve a homogeneous alignment of nematic liquid crystal (LC). Two bare substrates are rubbed in antiparallel direction and a mixture of LC and reactive mesogen (RM) is filled into the cell using capillary injection, and then UV is exposed after confirming the clear homogenous alignment. The cell shows an excellent dark state and stable electro-optic on/off switching in the IPS cell, which proves polymerized RM on surfaces plays role of alignment layer. Proposed fabrication method has several advantages such as simple process and low cost for IPS cell because alignment layer as well as the coating process is not required.

We propose a film patterned retarder (FPR) for stereoscopic three-dimensional display with polarization glasses using ink-jet printing method. Conventional FPR process requires coating of photo-alignment and then UV exposure using wire-grid mask, which is very expensive and difficult. The proposed novel fabrication method utilizes a plastic substrate made of polyether sulfone and an alignment layer, poly (4, 4' - (9, 9 -fluorenyl) diphenylene cyclobutanyltetracarboximide) (9FDA/CBDA) in which the former and the latter aligns reactive mesogen along and perpendicular to the rubbing direction, respectively. The ink-jet printing of 9FDA/CBDA line by line allows fabricating the cost effective FPR which can be widely applied for 3D display applications.