[Courtesy of Kolon Industries]
South Korea's Kolon Industries claimed to have developed a transparent and foldable variant of polyimide that can be used for smartphone displays wearable devices.
The breakthrough, announced on Monday, followed a 10-year research. Kolon said it would seek mass production but it's not clear whether its development and production obtained certification from experts.
With their high heat resistance and flexibility, polyimides have been widely used in industrial applications -- high-temperature fuel cells, displays, and various military roles -- but transparent PI will be a game-changer as Samsung and other tech giants are in the race to adopt flexible displays.
Most flexible displays on the market consist of organic light-emitting diode (OLED). There have been unconfirmed reports that Samsung Electronics may release its first folding smartphones next year.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
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