February 19, 2015

FUSION Impact Screen Protector: How It’s Made

Eric Griffin

We often get asked what makes our latest product, our patented Fusion Impact Screen Protector, so unique, and how we make it. For those of you who love technical details, we are happy to share them. Just beware of our passion for plastics — it might be contagious!

FUSION is the combination of three powerful and unique layers, each adding a specialized strength to the overall product. We call it TriACTIVE protection. All three layers combined add up to less than a half of the thickness of a credit card. We were also able to achieve remarkable results in application process, clarity, and glass-like smoothness. We invented, developed, and tested it in our Philadelphia facility. This is how it is made.

TOP LAYER: Polyurethane for scratch resistance

When it comes to protecting surfaces from scratches, polyurethane is the winner. Somewhat counterintuitive, compared to hard materials like glass, polyurethane is soft and stretchy. Yet, the composition of the film is so dense, it makes it tough. When you zoom in close, it looks like a giant memory foam. If you dig your fingernail into it, you’ll notice that you’ve left a depression. This indent, over time, will reshape itself and disappear, or self heal. This is also why it is so hard for a scratch to go through the material.

Take a look at the video below where we test three materials (Tempered Glass, Polyurethane, and PET) used for screen protection today. We are using the H8 pen from Deluxe Hardness Pick Set from Mineralab and are applying the same pressure to all three materials to see how they react to it.

Tempered glass is on the left; FUSION is in the middle (top layer is polyurethane); PET Plastic Screen Protector is on the right.

MIDDLE LAYER: PET to spread out impacts

This is an incredibly stiff, rigid material — so kind of like hitting a hammer on a block of wood, this rigid layer spreads the energy from any impact (like dropping your phone) across a much wider surface. However, as the video shows, PET isn’t really good at stopping scratches — just like wood, it scratches really easily, which is why we made that urethane top layer.

BOTTOM LAYER: Self-Wetting Adhesive

This layer makes it easy to apply the screen protector for as many times as needed without using any kind of squeegee or spray. It feels more like a gel than a “sticky” adhesive — because it’s so soft and has that “gel” property, it conforms to the screen and acts like a liquid when you put it on the screen — even though it’s just a super-soft solid. And, it’s really tough – you can even wash it with plain old dish detergent and hot water, and re-use it.

Putting it all together

We’re absolutely dedicated to domestic manufacturing, so most of our raw materials are sourced in the USA (The PET is not — but we’re looking for great domestic partners on this. Email [email protected] if you’re interested), and the process of sandwiching these all together using over a ton of pressure happens right here in Philadelphia. In the final step we check for any errors, package it, and ship it out to our customers.

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