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Coating Promises Scratch-Proof CDs, DVDs, LCDs
13.7BillionYears writes "NewScientist reports that TDK has developed a transparent polymer for LCD screens and optical media that is impervious to general neglect and abuse. Quoth the reporter, '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 coating is apparently responsible for Blu-Ray's new caddy-less form factor."
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I wonder if they apply this coating as a complete shield, would it prevent CDs rotting?
Remember, theres two sides to every coating.
liqbase
Call me when they have a transparent industrial diamond coating.
Until then, don't call it "scratch-proof."
Because it isn't. And it wouldn't be then, either.
p
In Korea, long hair is for old people!
I just wonder if it's antireflective, too?
See what I've been reading.
You'd think that if we had the capabilities to make something like this, it would have been done...
A coating that is (I assume) optically perfect enough to not mess up something as sensitive as the laser in a CD, and that durable, would be a boon for a huge number of industries.
I'll have to see it before I believe it, and then, if its true, someone's probably gonna make a good bit of money...:D
Blake
i don't think it's intended to be indestructable -- just more resillient..
From what I've seen, they're already do as much as they possibly can.
I don't find the caddies around 3 1/2" floppies a significant hassle. Why can we deal with caddies on magnetic media, but not on optical media?
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
Ah but what about:
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose."
I thought CDs these days tend to get scratched more on the 'label' side? And that's only since a price-saving move was made to remove an extra protective layer in modern CD manufacturing. Is this (or will it be) cost-efficient enough to add the protection back in?
Not only car paint, but Interior House paint... Anyone will kids will understand why this would be nice. :)
- Your stupidity got you into this mess, why can't it get you out? -Will Rogers
We need a medium that is smaller and covered except for the terminals (wires) that connect. In other words, kind of like a USP flash "card". The problem with a disk is that the content itself is exposed. If it is an enclosed chip, then the content itself is protected by a shell.
Table-ized A.I.
No word on added cost in the article... if it drives CD prices too much, I guess I'll be used for backup purposes only (perfect application for that). Are scratches the only factor of data decay on CDs?
Cellphones (and camera?) unscratchable LCDs are quite nice too...
Eureka Science News - automatically updated
I RTFA, but a question popped in my head. Do any of you optical gurus have any idea if this can be used with writable media?
No, Disney DVDs need to be ripped and re-burned so that we're not forced to sit through 10 minutes of trailers and ads (for which they've so kindly disabled ff/next chapter) every time we want to watch the movie.
I take the CD, and use it in my car. After listening to it, I toss it on the passenger seat, where it will slide down onto the floor when I stop quickly. There it will sit, for a month or more until I decide to clean the car. If it plays after all of the foot traffic that has been in and out of the car....then it is worthy of the front page blessing it recieved here at Slashdot.
Until then, it is hype. Let's get people using it and either proving its worth or its lack thereof.
plus, if some vandal sprays the house and sees the paint just slid away, next day you'll find the house tagged... with a screwdriver instead of spray paint.
Go hug some trees.
This has tons of great applications.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
The aircraft thing is probably a good idea - depends how the coating responds to extremes of cold. The last thing you want is for your windows suddenly to turn opaque at 30000 feet. But, y'know, if it passes this basic test...
Plastic windows on your car... probably not such a great idea - the problem with car windows is that they are designed to shatter into tiny pieces rather than large jagged chunks that can rupture organs and generally shred the passengers in the event of a crash. Glass is cheap and does the job well. Cool as it would be to have wrap around windows, I reckon the auto companies will be unlikely to shell out the development cash.
If you can't think of something nice to say then don't say anything at all. No, REALLY.
how about this coating on the iPod?
It seems a harsh wind can put a scratch on the display.
I wonder. It said the coating was silica based. Of course the steel wool pad wouldn't scratch it since steel is much softer. But I wonder if sand might since the disc is essentially coated with sand (and other stuff too)?
Scratches from the other side of the disk ;)
I personally have found scratches to the "label side" of the disk (i.e. damage to the actual reflective material) to cause much more data corruption than even extensive scratches and scuffs on "shiny" side, especially when it starts to flake and peel off.
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120 chairs?! What the hell am I supposed to do with 120 chairs...?
Well, yes, quite true, but the windshield glass seems to break up quite a bit, while the plastic layer (which yes, I was aware of - it gives the windshield a lot of its shock resistance as well) holds it together to keep it from entering your eyes at top speed.
Unbreakable windows worry me, unless there's some easy way to remove them from the car from the inside even in the case of an accident. I hope that if the window's shape is deformed, the windows are designed to pop out of the vehicle. Otherwise, it'll make it all too easy to get trapped inside, especially if you start your experience in the back seat.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
I think what he's getting at is this: "And the ink simply wiped off."
If the coating (which has the above effect) is applied to both sides, how will you label them? (as it stands, I use matte labels, but for quick copies (running out the door), the above situation may apply).
I am John Hurt.
The top side doesn't need to resist surface scratches, so it can be textured to allow marking. It just needs to be durable enough to resist scratching *through* the surface. It's the bottom that needs to be optically clear as well as durable. Besides, most disks I get have a writable surface chemically bonded to the polycarbonate, much like paint bonds to primer. I'd bet that something coul dpretty easily be made that would bond itself to the new hard coating, and would allow permanent marking...
Probably not. Plastics don't stand up to sunlight well.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
When I read the article, there was a special coating to resist the effect of marking by ink. The hardness coating could be applied and the other part of the coating that resists inking could be left on the top part of the CD so that you can write on it and still resist scratching.
-- Wolfpup
"A man whose circumstances went beyond his control." -- Styx
Acutally, the top layer is more important. This information is years old (14+ years) but I don't know if much of it applies now, but if you look at the side of a CD, you will see the metal platter is very close to the label side ft he CD. This metal platter in pressed CDs are usually aluminium. That aluminium is shinier than most aluminium you see, and it needs to be shiny because of the reflective properties. That's because the aluminium hasn't oxidised. Gold and silver also have better reflective properties, silver actually having the best, but gold is just that much more prestigious.
"I just can't sit while people are saying nonsense in a meeting without saying it's nonsense" J Watson, Sci Am 288:(4)51
I realize that CDs never were really all that environmentally safe, but am I the only one wondering about the environmental significance of this stuff?
What about the waste material from production? Or excess production? Will we now have an indestructible landfill or two?
Howdy.
> Umm wouldn't windhisled that don't break cause more fatalities? I'd imagine
> that doing a header through breakable glass is much more desirable than
> through jaws of life proof brick wall like polycarbonate.
Statistically, if you go out through the windshield, you're pretty much dead,
no matter what the windshield is made of. Even if the windshield were made
of air, whatever you hit outside isn't bloody likely to be significantly
softer than a brick wall. Asphalt is the most likely thing. The steel of
another vehicle is second-most-likely. If you're worried about dying of
deceleration trauma in this situation, there's a nifty safety device built
into most newer-model vehicles called a "seatbelt", which if used properly
will generally prevent you from going through the windshield. HTH.HAND.
(Yes, the glass of the windshield would slow you down a bit going through
it, but since it doesn't have a lot of give, it doesn't do so gently. If
we made windshields out of two-foot-thick foam rubber (SPF), that might
help a bit, but it would also have the negative side-effect of reducing
visibility too much. The airbag is an attempt at a compromise partial
solution to this problem -- it only reduces visibility when it activates,
and in those cases it presumbly is needed rather more than visibility, or
so goes the theory.
The point of the unbreakable windshields is presumably to prevent injuries
(or fatalities) from outside objects coming in through the windshield and
whacking the occupants. If the occupants go out through the windshield,
there isn't a great deal that can be done for them. That's a DOA scenerio.
So instead of making soft windshields, it's better to _prevent_ people from
going there in the first place -- hence seatbelts and airbags.
Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
Just give it to a four year old. He'll find a way to destroy it - probably involving crayons and peanut butter.
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.