Super-Tough Coating For Cellphones And Discs On The Horizon

edited November 2004 in Science & Tech
A tough, transparent polymer coating developed by chemists in Japan is set to make scratched phone screens and scuffed discs a thing of the past.
In one of the most convincing technology demonstrations this reporter has witnessed, I was handed a CD, a wire-wool pan scourer and some permanent marker pens, and invited to scratch or mark the discs. Hard as I tried, I could not make a single mark on the disc with the scourer. And the ink simply wiped off. The only person to have succeeded in damaging the disc had undertaken a determined attack with a Swiss army knife, according to TDK, the company that has developed the coating. Two years ago TDK, a maker of tape and disc-based recording media, began developing what was initially a single-layer coating to make DVDs more resistant to scuffing. But the new coating is far tougher, and it is transparent to the full spectrum of visible light rather than just a DVD’s red laser, so it can also be used to protect the plastic surface of colour liquid crystal displays (LCDs).
Source: New Scientist

Comments

  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Totally sweet. Long overdue.
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited November 2004
    Wow, finnally a reason to actually LIKE having CD's. I love those Japanese freaks.... and my freaks I mean super dooper uber techies!
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