Innovative polymer composite enhances safety

Display solutions and embedded systems provider, Review Display Systems (RDS) has announced the introduction of a material technology for use with PCap (projected capacitive) touchscreens from touch solutions manufacturer AMT. The AMT Polym Touch solution uses a polymer composite material as the top cover lens to enhance the protection of the PCap touch substrate and significantly improve the ability to withstand impact forces.

For impact resistant PCap touch solutions, thick glass cover lenses are often used. Health and safety regulations dictate that equipment and production machinery used within the food industry, and public information terminals and kiosks, must avoid the use of glass materials in touch-based systems. The weight of the glass cover increases significantly as the size of the product increases. In contrast, AMT Polym Touch uses a polymer composite for the cover lens, which is only half the weight of glass of the equivalent size.

The implementation of a polymer composite cover lens enables the complete PCap touch solution to be thin, lightweight, and exceptionally durable with significantly improved impact resistance while still meeting the requirements of the IK10 drop ball test rating (equivalent to a 5kg mass dropped from 400mm above the impact surface).

Justin Coleman, display business manager, RDS said, “AMT’s composite polymer PCap solution provides excellent impact resistance and is suitable for small and medium-sized products that need to be lightweight, rugged, and able to meet industry standard drop test specifications. AMT are constantly improving and developing the functionality, flexibility, and reliability of their PCap touch solutions. The new Polym Touch cover lens solution offers greater scope and versatility for new PCap touch designs.”

The composite polymer material also features anti-UV properties and meets the ASTM G154-Cycle 1QUV 1000 hours standard for measuring accelerated outdoor weathering conditions. Polym Touch is therefore able to withstand UV ray damage without any additional processing. An operating temperature range of -30° to +60° is supported.

The polymer composite material can be applied to a diverse range of AMT PCap designs and offers support for a wide range of touch controllers including PenMount P2 series (Microchip IC), PenMount K1 series (ILITEK IC), and AE series (EETI IC) touch controllers.