'Self-healing' iPhone case developed by Nissan

In a case of applying automotive innovation to electronic gadgets, Japanese carmaker Nissan has claimed to make what could be the world’s first self-healing iPhone case.

 

Nissan said its Scratch Shield iPhone case uses a “self-healing” paint finish developed in 2005 that allows fine scratches to quickly mend, while giving the phone’s surface an easier grip.

 

Trials of the new product are underway with with initial batch of prototypes, according to an article on 3D-Carshows.com.

 

“We like to think laterally by taking the great innovations we’ve got from an automotive point of view, and looking at how they could be applied to improve everyday issues. The Scratch Shield iPhone case is a great example of us taking a Nissan automotive technology that has had a huge impact for our customers, and then shifting the boundaries to apply it to another everyday product,” the article quoted Bob Laishley, Overseas Programme Director Business Development for Nissan in Europe, as saying.

 

Nissan’s new iPhone case is made from ABS plastic, which is widely used in the automotive industry to create a more rigid, robust, and tighter-fitting case.

 

According to Nissan, the self-healing paint finish is already used on a number of Nissan Murano, 370Z and X-Trail and Infiniti models.

 

It developed the new phone case in collaboration with University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc.

 

Should the testing of the prototypes succeed, the cases may go on general sale later this year, the article said.

 

DoCoMo

 

Laishley said they have linked up with world-leading mobile operator NTT DoCoMo to allow them to use the Scratch Shield technology on its Style Series N-03B mobile phones, “and we think this technology has real scope beyond the automotive world.”

 

Other products

 

This will not be the first Nissan technology used for non-automotive applications – Nissan technology has been used in such purposes since 2004.

 

Other technologies that have been licensed include its Miniature Thermal Imaging Sensor, initially designed to make driving at night safer by detecting the presence of people even in places not illuminated by the car’s headlights.

 

The technology has been licensed to create a device that lets customers monitor heat generation, or collect temperature readings via infrared sensor.

 

A separate article on The Next Web said the outer ‘paint’ is made from polyrotaxane, such that when damage occurs to the coating in the form of a fine scratch, the chemical structure can react and change back to its original shape and fill the gap, effectively healing the blemish.

 

The case launched this weekend at an automotive event in Dubai, with the company giving an initial batch of cases to journalists and customers for beta testing. — TJD, GMA News