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Coating Promises Scratch-Proof CDs, DVDs, LCDs

Posted by timothy on from the data-retention dept.

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."

12 of 542 comments (clear)

  1. For cars too? by fembots · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If this can be applied to cars when coming out of factory, it'll save a lot of 'disagreement' with supermarket trollies.

    There's no mention of price, and more importantly, the ease of removal if this protective coating is somehow scratched. I find the current PDA sheet very difficult to remove (as if you're about to pull the LCD out).

    And will record companies do more to prevent "backup" copies now that you simply can't scratch your CDs anymore??

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
    1. Re:For cars too? by Lumpy · · Score: 5, Interesting

      to hell with consumer uses.

      why has this not been applied to aircraft? the plastic windows and canopies on aircraft are notorius for being super easy to scratch and always having some kind of scratches in them even when the utmost care is taken with them.

      Hell, a car windshield made out of plastic would be far superior to the glass we have today. It would revolutionize the automotive industry in designs alone! a wrap around "jetsons" type of car would be possible.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  2. Hmm.... by JoeLinux · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I *ALWAYS* wondered why people whose buildings get tagged wouldn't spray teflon on the side of their building...now I will wonder why they don't use this stuff.

    Sounds pretty cool

    Joe

    1. Re:Hmm.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I looked into anti-grafitti treatment for my fraternity house in Boston several years ago. Even targeting just the worst spot (~35x10ft brick wall) was excessively expensive compared to renting a sandblaster every three months and spending a Saturday morning cleaning it and paying for repegging the mortar every other year.

      Granted, the level of grafitti problems we had were only only 'nuisance level', the cost of treating the wall astounded me. Even with the treatment we still would have had to rent a pressure washer to clean it and have to redo the teflon every few years. It was much cheaper to sandblast and repair the damage.

      The teflon isn't really a miracle solution.

      I wish I'd caught some asshole tagging the house, but it's probably best that I didn't...I got pretty angry over the thing. We did set up a camera for a while and gave the cops the video, but that had no noticable impact.

  3. PSP by Mekabyte · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The PSP could really use this.

  4. Will this defeat the marker DRM exploit? by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No more marking the edge of CD to defeat the copy protection?

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  5. Re:Uh-oh.. by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Indestructable AOL disks.. *Shivers*

    No, Good! We then have free roofing "tiles" that last forever. You know how much roofing tiles cost?

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  6. What about finger prints? by BrewerDude · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Sounds like it would make a great coating for sunglasses, too.

    And, if it makes fingerprints stick less, then that'd be an added bonus. I wonder whether the ink-resisitant properties have any effect on oily or gummy buildups.

    Anyone care to speculate?

  7. Re:What is so horrible about caddies? by Dynedain · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's because the caddie was a part of the media, just like Zip disks.

    When the caddy sits on your desk, and you have to put the media in it in order to insert it into a drive (like early CD-ROMs and DVD-RAM) it becomes much less consumer-friendly.

    --
    I'm out of my mind right now, but feel free to leave a message.....
  8. I suspect this isnt a NEW development... by riprjak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    As the opthalmic industry has applied scratch resistant coatings with matched refractive indices to polycarbonate lenses for many years now. Indeed, the "wire wool" test is a standard for scratch resistance.

    It seems just a new application of old technology, long overdue IMHO. When I used to work in R&D for one of the major opthalmic lens manufacturers (when they still had R&D) I recall the licensing of our scratch proof coatings to the optical storage industry was mooted on several occasions.

    As the cost of these coatings was prohibitive; often costing up to $12USD per application, I suspect they may have found ways to reduce the cost or they could afford to sacrafice matching of RI or some degrees of scratch resistance.

    Furthermore, I recall an undergrad student doing work with Diamond Like Carbon coating of optical media at a local university several years back. Althought the differing refractive indices of media and coating led to problems.

    Id love to see some REAL detail about this technique and hear if it is possible to apply to existing CDs/DVDs... although back at aforementioned opthalmic R&D lab I coated all of my own CDs/DVDs that I owned at the time... Since the coating was RI matched, it even repaired scratches :)

    err!
    jak.

  9. degradability? by billy+reuben · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How degradable is this supertough coating? How hard will it be for you to get rid of it when you want it to go away? Remember that one of the main selling points of CFC's was that they were very unreactive. As we've all learned within the past couple decades, this was also a bad thing about them, since they were found to be associated with ozone layer depletion. I'm not saying unmarkable AOL CD's will destroy the ozone layer, but I'm thinking that disposal of items covered with this new coating might be a bit more complicated than it would be with conventional, noncoated objects. Thoughts?

  10. Re:I want! by riprjak · · Score: 4, Interesting

    See my post somewhere else here :)... Polymer opthalmic lenses have carried (or have had the option to carry, depending on how cheap you are) scratch resistant coatings for a VERY LONG time... Anti reflective coatings too, tho these are not chemical "films" applied as liquids (as per scratch resisiting) but are thin layers of metal applied using PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition).

    Most of the "hazing" would be due to build up of oils or fluids leaching in from the exposed edges when they are cut for framing.

    Of course, scratch resistant is NOT scratch proof. Not now, not ever.

    Err!
    jak.