Whether you like it or not, but outside the window is progressive 2016, which means it's time to talk about one amazing and at the same time inevitably approaching technology – flexible screens.
Despite the fact that almost every one of us daily uses modern liquid crystal displays in one form or another (from trivial examples like a computer and a smartphone to screens in various city terminals and relatively new billboards over the capital's highways), but few of us thought about prospects and innovations in this direction – and they are, and quite promising: for example, in the depths of world giants such as Samsung, LG and Sony, flexible displays are being developed at full speed, promising, promising to change not only our life and the usual approach to the use of gadgets, but also the life of mankind in general.
What's the point?
Before talking about the advantages / disadvantages of screens that can change their shape, we suggest you understand their structure. For the first time flexible (flexible) displays were introduced to the general public in 2012 by Samsung and belonged to a new type of matrix called F AMOLED, built on the basis of conventional organic light-emitting diodes (Organic Light-Emitting Diode, OLED). It is easy to guess that the main problem in the production of such screens is glass – a heavy, hard and at the same time very fragile material. The solution was found by the well-known company in the mobile world Corning with its Willow Glass – a protective glass for flexible displays based on a special polyethylene film.
Advantages of F AMOLED – displays:
- Light weight
- Low thickness (due to the lack of traditional protective glass
- Excellent durability (again due to the lack of breakable glass)
- Many use cases: in technology, newspapers / magazines, clothing and even on food cans and bottles
Disadvantages:
- Low wear resistance, especially with frequent excessive bending
- Despite 20 years of research, the technology is still poorly understood
However, despite the existing difficulties associated with the development of flexible displays, scientists are greatly assisted by innovative materials, with the help of which they have already managed to make such seemingly fantastic inventions as translucent flexible LED displays, large foldable thin 55-inch wall panels. A self-healing flexible display that functions even after being cut with scissors is just a small part of the potential hidden in this revolutionary technology.