Patents Samsung filed for a flexible “self-healing” laminate screen have been made public, and though the patent doesn’t mention the Galaxy S10 by name, it follows rumours that the next flagship phone will have flexible elements.
The patent itself describes the technology as “[a]n anti-fingerprinting composition having a self-healing property includes a polyrotaxane, a polyhedral silsesquioxane, and a fluorinated (meth)acryl compound.”
In plain English, this means the phone won’t smudge like current phones, will be extraordinarily flexible, waterproof, low friction and able to heal scratches by itself.
In the summary of the patent, a lot of attention is given to the flexible screen, saying “The film it may be self-healed after being scratched and has excellent flexibility and thus may be applied to a flexible device and the like.
“A laminate including the film and a device including the same are provided.”
It also compares the current state of anti-scratch technology with the new method that they have developed, “any commercially available self-healing protective films have a high tacky (sticky) property and a high coefficient of friction relative to a surface on which they are disposed, so that the self-healing protective films have unfavorable slip properties and insufficient self-healing characteristics.
“An anti-fingerprinting film is a relatively brittle coating film having a three-dimensional cross-linked structure, and as a result, has a deteriorated flexibility…”
In comparison, the new materials “…may be flexibly moved when external pressure is applied thereto, and thus provides good flexibility and may be highly stretched.
“A composition including the polyrotaxane may show excellent self-healing characteristics, flexibility, and appropriate hardness…
“The urethane(meth)acrylate having this structure shows excellent self-healing characteristics and a high flexibility and so is appropriately applicable to a flexible device.”
Further on, they discuss the waterproofing, describing the new phone as “In addition, the laminate may have a good slip property and water repellency which is sufficient to suppress the phenomenon of staining of the surface thereof with fingerprints and to show anti-fouling characteristics.
“The laminate also has a high flexibility, so it may safely protect the device even if the device is folded and unfolded tens of thousands of times.”
Whether its the Galaxy S10 or another phone, whatever device has this technology built into will be a game changer.
