BASF announced that its new Elastollan Soft Touch Feel thermoplastic polyurethane series creates new design possibilities with its exceptional touch, feel, and performance. With Meiban’s laser texturing Innovation Meiban Skin (IMS) technology, Elastollan is making headway in the consumer electronics accessories market.
Meiban’s IMS technology is said to allow a variety of textures and graphics to be embossed on new materials. With the enhanced design versatility made possible by the technology, the Elastollan Soft Touch Feel TPU series is said to be an ideal solution for consumer electronics accessories and products that style and functionality are crucial, such as watch straps, speakers, laptop covers. Fulfilling the ever-demanding requirements for functionality and comfort in consumer electronics, the Elastollan Soft Touch Feel TPU series possesses other mechanical properties suitable for wearables. These include very good adhesion, non-transparent, and anti-slip capabilities on glass.
Additionally, the new series enables ease of processing without any blooming issues compared to traditional TPU. The material also stands apart with a new palette of colour shades, providing different vibrant colour options for brand owners.
“Meiban is consistently innovating in polymer technology and design,” said Helen Ho, R&D Head of Meiban. “Through our partnership with BASF, we are excited to empower consumer electronic brands with high-quality designs, enabled by our IMS technology. This technology provides consumers with a better, stronger, and more versatile design option for their mobile and electronics accessories. It also enhances the look and feel of the products when applying on MedTech applications.”
According to BASF, the collaboration complements its position in providing TPU materials to consumer electronics brands while delivering an ideal lifestyle solution. The comprehensive range of the Elastollan Soft Touch Feel TPU series for consumer electronics accessories will be featured in a toolkit collaboratively developed with Meiban. Brands will have an extensive selection of refined yet versatile accessory options to experiment and feel the materials. The offering includes watch straps crafted with Elastollan TPU material and intricate designs embossed by Meiban’s IMS technology.
“The cooperation with Meiban provides a great opportunity to showcase the design flexibility of Elastollan in wearable devices,” said Minli Zhao, Vice President, Consumer Industry, BASF Performance Materials. “The newly added soft-touch series reinforces our positioning as a total solution provider for consumer electronics brands.”