Covestro pushes boundaries of materials for printed electronics

• Covestro offers smart materials solutions for a smart living world
• At LOPEC 2023, Covestro highlights substrates tailored for automotive, electronics, healthcare and consumer applications 

From medical devices to mobility and more, printable electronics transforms the form and functionality of products in multiple industries. Substrates play a pivotable role in advancing the capabilities and applications of printable electronics, and Covestro is a leading company for providing highly engineered polymers and substrate solutions for products that help enable smarter living. Covestro partners and innovates alongside manufacturers, producing specialty films, in particular made from polycarbonate (PC) and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) needed to manufacture printed electronics.

Covestro will showcase a comprehensive range of specialty films for printed electronics at LOPEC 2023 in Munich, Germany, from February 28 to March 2. Attendees can find Covestro in Hall B0 Booth 418 (B0.418).

"We’re excited to participate for the first time in LOPEC, which is considered one of the world’s leading gathering places for exchanging ideas and introducing technologies related to printed electronics," said Karine Benbelaid, Global Segment Lead, Medical, Specialty Films business, Covestro. "We look forward to demonstrating our technical expertise and ability to drive industrial collaboration as we highlight our PC, TPU and specialty elastomer films that are tailored specifically for automotive, electronics, healthcare and consumer applications."

New TPU films and applications for smart skin patches

Covestro will debut its new Platilon^® TPU grades for smart skin patch applications at LOPEC 2023. Not only can the new ranges of TPU films be printed with standard inks, but they also show good printability with silver-based inks. Printability with silver-based inks is important as it ensures good conductivity and allows sensor technology to be integrated more reliably. Additionally, the new TPU film grades can be equipped with a stiffer polypropylene carrier, which provides stability throughout the conversion process, especially during curing.

One of the new Platilon^® TPU grades is specifically suited for humid environments, often required for 24/7 worn medical patches. This range of substrates in medical quality is also available in a partially bio-based version. Another new Platilon^® TPU range features high mechanical strengths, opening up applications in a variety of devices. Nile AB (powered by Linxens Healthcare) selected this new material to produce wearable sensor patches.

"The future of printed wearables belongs to pioneering patches aimed at better patient comfort and enhanced accuracy," said Peter Nilson, CEO at Nile AB. "We chose to work with the new TPU substrate from Covestro because it has been perfectly adapted for our unique converting process and printing of silver-based flexible circuits."

Booth visitors can also check out smart skin patches made jointly with accensors, featuring two products: a Disposable patch, which houses sensors and is designed to be used once; and a ReUse patch, which houses the electronics and can be used repeatedly.

Smart material solutions for automotive and electronics

Covestro will also highlight key Human Machine Interface (HMI) applications for automotive and electrics designs enabled by in-mold electronics (IME), including:

• A future-forward integrated automotive frontend concept for creating premium- and base-model designs
• Smart 3D plastic surfaces featuring injection molded structural electronics (IMSE^®) technology from TactoTek^® combined with Makrofol^® PC film and Makrolon^® PC resin
  – A fully functioning, sleek automotive overhead control panel demonstrator
  – A smart surface controller device that meets tomorrow’s design, sustainability and technology requirements

Hear from Covestro experts

Covestro will share its technical expertise through presentations given by Covestro subject matter experts:

• Mikko Silvennoinen, global account representative, Specialty Films business, will give an oral presentation on TPU films for use in smart medical skin patches on Tuesday, February 28, in ICM Room 13b at 12:50 CET.
• Dirk Pophusen, global segment manager, Specialty Films business, will give an oral presentation on in-mold electronics film technology enabling future HMI solutions in automotive and electronics design on Thursday, March 2, in ICM Room 13a at 14:00 CET.

About Linxens:

Linxens is a leading technology company providing secure component-based solutions for security, identification and healthcare. Linxens is a world-class designer and manufacturer of micro-connectors for smart cards, RFID antennas and inlays, and module packaging. With more than 110 billion micro-connectors and 5 billion RFID antennas supplied to date, Linxens is the partner of choice for many of the world’s technology pioneers who are shaping the telecommunications, transportation, hospitality, leisure and entertainment, financial services, government, access control, healthcare and Internet of Things (IoT) markets. Linxens is headquartered in France and employs 3,000 people worldwide.

Forward-looking statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Covestro AG. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Covestro’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.