Broken screen repairs and their related costs may not be a thing anymore. What about smartphones’ screens that self-regenerate? Is it sci-fi or a reality? DP has looked into the issue of self-repairing smartphones. It’s time to know the truth.
“Self-Repairing Phones” Is the New “Broken Screen Repairs”
South Korean scientists have paved the way for a new kind of screen that may launch on mobile markets soon. The innovation puts an end to an era of expensive repairing services, above all related to the broken screens (e.g. iPhone 12 and the 499$ fee for repairing). But how was this possible?
Years of research and development on the theme of broken screen repairs have contributed to the birth of a self-repairing technology for screens. At the heart of this innovation, we find linseed microcapsules. Linseed oil played, indeed, a vital role in the toughening of commercial smartphones’ screens and the birth of self-repairing phones.
This technological breakthrough comes as good news for tech firms, which have spent millions for the r&d of more break-resistant screens and protective cases but failed to eliminate the curse of smashing.
The Team Behind the Self-Repairing Screen and How It Changes the Games Forever
The first-world self-repairing screen has been developed by a team of South Korean researchers led by the department of Advanced Composites Materials of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). Professor R. Yong Chae led the team that understood linseed oil is a viable solution for better smartphones.
Linseed oil is commonly used for the treatment of cricket bats. But how is it useful for screens? Linseed oil microcapsule – placed on the interior side of the phone – crack together whenever the screen cracks. In this way, linseed oil spreads over and within the cracks of the screen. In so doing, the oil gradually hardens, becoming a solid and transparent component that repairs the screen.
The end-material looks like glass and makes the phone look as just purchased.
The team of researchers that worked on the self-repairing screen claim that the process fixes 95% of the damages that the phone gets in less than 20 minutes. In this way, they were able to achieve three key results: they improved the life-span, properties, and potential risks due to repairing services. Better screens, indeed, rhyme with better hardware protection, which positively impacts the life span of products and overall performance. At the same time, they lowered the cost and risks related to repairing services by third-parties, which are not always professional and several times related to the expertise of the technician repairing the phone, only.
In the study, published on the journal of Composites Part B: Engineering, scientists claim that the linseed capsule was effective in 91% of cases.
Can The Innovation Go Beyond Smartphones?
The effectiveness of the process can contaminate outdoor applications for technology relying on screens of colourless Polymide (CPI), as in the case of smartphones. Moreover, industries may apply the same innovation to the production and maintenance of more durable solar panels and artificial skin for medical purposes.
In other words, CPI repairs may prove very beneficial to different sectors, don’t they? Is this the science the world needs