Nissan has a special, “self-healing” paint that has been used for the Nissan Murano, 370Z, and their Infiniti line of luxury vehicles. Now they’re doing a beta test for iPhone cases using the self-healing, Scratch Shield technology. Small scratches mend in about an hour, while deeper, more severe cuts take about a week to repair.
The prototype cases are made out of ABS plastic, usually used in automobiles since it’s more robust and durable than other plastics. The Scratch Shield paint itself is made out of a substance called polyrotaxane, whose chemical structure is able to react to scratches and revert back to its original shape, thus “healing” the scratches. In addition to self-healing scratches and gouges, the material is a lot easier to grip than regular glossy plastics. A test group of select journalists and customers has already been seeded with the prototype cases.
Nissan has already partnered with NTT DoCoMo in Japan to use the Scratch Shield technology on the Style Series N-03B line of mobile phones. If Nissan’s beta in the US works out well, they could work on deals with manufacturers to use the self-healing paint without cases, directly on mobile devices of all types. Products using Scratch Shield paint could come out as early as this year.
Via Pocketables.net, source: Nissan PR
