Abstract
Tension mask is a part of CRT type devices, which is installed right behind glass-made front panel. Numerous slits on the thin metal sheet enable the electron beams emitted from posterior gun to be focused, resulting in enhanced definition. Flattened and enlarged displays necessitate the imposition of pretension on the masks, in order to improve the robustness of display quality against vibration or impact. High temperature assembly process subsequent to pretensioning, however, degenerates creep resistance of mask material, and common mask may become susceptible to undesirable elongation due to creep. Once tensile stress becomes high enough to induce creep deformation, pretension is substantially loosened. In this study, tension mask assembly is modeled as a combined structure of beams and wire array, and a numerical simulation is attempted for pretensioning followed by high temperature process. Based on a model study, creep occurrence is found to be probable and its adverse influence is quantified. As fur maintaining high tensile force, simply increasing pretension does not seem to be helpful. Instead, the structure of frame needs to be modified somehow, or material for mask needs to be selected properly.