Hard-coated antiglare film, polarizing plate and image display including the same, method for producing the same, and method for evaluating the same

A hard-coated antiglare film, comprising:na transparent plastic film substrate; anda hard-coating antiglare layer containing fine particles, on at least one surface of the transparent plastic film substrate, whereinthe hard-coated antiglare film has a total haze value Ht in a range of 10% to 35%,the total haze value Ht and an internal haze value Hin satisfy an relationship expressed by the following formula (1),a surface of the hard-coating antiglare layer has an uneven shape and the following arithmetic average surface roughness Ra in a range of 0.1 to 0.3 μm, andthe hard-coated antiglare film includes: convexities that exceed a roughness mean line of a surface roughness profile; no convexities in which line segments of portions of the mean line that cross the convexities each have length of 80 μm or longer; convexities that exceed a standard line that is in parallel with the mean line and is located at a height of 0.1 μm; and at least 50 convexities in which line segments of portions of the standard line that cross the convexities each have a length of 20 μm or shorter in a 4-mm long portion at an arbitrary location of the surface of the hard-coating antiglare layer,n0.5≦Hin/Ht≦0.9  (1)nTotal haze value Ht: a haze value (cloudiness) (%) of an entire hard-coated antiglare film, according to JIS K 7136 (2000 version),Internal haze value Hin: a haze value (%) of the entire hard-coated antiglare film measured in the case where a surface of the hard-coated antiglare film is smooth,Ra: an arithmetic average surface roughness (μm) defined in JIS B 0601 (1994 version).

A method for evaluating a hard-coated antiglare film, comprising:nevaluating visibility of a hard-coated antiglare film using:a total haze value Ht, an internal haze value Hin, and a arithmetic average surface roughness Ra of a surface of the hard-coated antiglare film having an uneven shape, which are defined below;a size and the number of convexities that exceed a roughness mean line of a surface roughness profile in a 4-mm long portion at an arbitrary location of the surface of the hard-coated antiglare film; anda size and the number of convexities that exceed a standard line that is in parallel with the mean line and is located at a height of 0.1 μm, assuming that the total haze value Ht of the hard-coated antiglare film is in a range of 10% to 35%Total haze value Ht: a haze value (cloudiness) (%) of an entire hard-coated antiglare film, according to JIS K 7136 (2000 version),Internal haze value Hin: a haze value (%) of the entire hard-coated antiglare film measured in the case where a surface of the hard-coated antiglare film is smooth,Ra: an arithmetic average surface roughness (μm) defined in JIS B 0601(1994 version).