A transparent, optical film invented by Dr. Frank Harris, UA distinguished professor emeritus of polymer science (right), and Dr. Stephen Cheng, dean of the UA College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, recently topped $1 billion in sales.
A thin polymer film developed at The University of Akron is serving as an economic stimulus at a time when corporate closings and escalating unemployment dominate conversations and headlines. The technology, a transparent, optical film invented by Dr. Frank Harris, UA distinguished professor emeritus of polymer science, and Dr. Stephen Cheng, dean of the UA College of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, recently topped $1 billion in sales.
"We were in the right place at the right time," says Harris, explaining how their 1989 development of soluble polyimides, when converted to film, enabled large liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to be viewed from all angles for the first time. "It was a big event. This technology helped enable the production of large-screen LCDs."
Films previously used on large LCDs, in an attempt to increase side-angle visibility, needed to be uniformly stretched, which was impossible over a broad area. The new film offered boundless clarity and required no stretching, making it ideal for the emerging large LCD screens and enabling them to be viewed from an angle as well as straight on.
Use in cockpits
The National Science Foundation provided $6 million in funding for the formation of the Center for Advanced Liquid Crystalline Optical Materials, through which the polymer film was developed. This consortium, which included UA, Kent State University and Case Western Reserve University, was created to provide a link between academic and business worlds and to develop LCD prototypes for industry.
Rockwell Automation, a corporate member of the consortium, took particular notice of the unique polymer film and signed an agreement with UA to license the technology in 1994. As a result of the licensing, the film is used on the cockpit displays of Boeing Co. aircraft.
"The company is still paying royalties," Harris says. "It is likely when you fly on any Boeing jet you are being accompanied by The University of Akron film on the cockpit displays."
According to Harris, Rockwell obtained several licensing agreements pertaining to the technology, but decided to retain only the cockpit display-related patent, opening doors to other licensing possibilities.
Japanese company opens doors
Enter Nitto Denko, a Japanese manufacturer of polarizers, which are components of LCDs.
"Nitto wanted to combine our film with its polarizer and sell it as a package. So we worked with Nitto a few years in perfecting the material so it would meet the industry's needs. By the year 2000, Nitto was ready to put it on its polarizers and sell it to LCD manufacturers," Harris explains.
Nitto wanted a capable material supplier and Harris and Cheng answered the call with Akron Polymer Systems (APS), an Akron-based company they formed in 2002 with the help of the University of Akron Research Foundation. Since then, the film has exceeded $1 billion in sales and is on many commercial LCD television screens including all of those produced by Sharp Electronics, according to Harris.
Nitto Denko later commissioned a Japanese company to supply the polymer, but that did not hinder APS, which has signed agreements with two Fortune 100 chemical companies seeking second- and third-generation versions of the film.
"There is a good chance the second-generation films will be on many more LCD television screens in the near future," Harris says.
Job growth anticipated
Situated as a startup company located in Fairlawn's Omnova Solutions facility, APS already has spurred job growth in the area, including 12 positions, 11 of which are filled by doctoral graduates from UA and KSU. And this is just the beginning, according to Cheng.
"In addition to optical films, we now work on other high-performance polymers for missile nose cones, biomedical devices and fuel cells. We are also in negotiations with the City of Akron and the State of Ohio to obtain funding to build a new facility downtown," Cheng says.
Harris adds that APS already has produced polymers on the kilogram scale, but has remained focused primarily on technology development. However, the company owners now have their sights set on establishing a small manufacturing operation as well.
"We will continue to do a lot of technology development, but in the future we want to increase our production capabilities. We don't necessarily want to compete with the big chemical companies, but we'd like to be able to supply quantities of polymers sufficient for high-performance, specialty applications," Harris says. "We're proud of the company and so far we're doing quite well."