Display protection - a comprehensive explanation and overview

Protective effect of a professional screen protector

The display of the cell phone is one of the elements that are most battered. Especially in case of drops or bumps, the screen is rapidly damaged or scratched and the function is consequently hindered or even completely impossible. A display film exerts a protective effect to protect the screen from external influences, such as scratches in particular. It thus ensures that the cell phone remains usable for a long time. Coins, keys or other hard pointed objects, such as sand, zippers can scratch a smartphone monitor. If the phone falls on the street, the screen can even crack. This is not only annoying, but a display repair can be downright salty at times. Everyone knows the cell phone spider app! Additional protection with a Neoxum anti-reflective film or Neoxum ultra-clear film is therefore highly recommended.

A broken screen, for example, makes a cell phone or digital camera completely unsuitable. An expensive repair is certainly the consequence, if not a new acquisition is sometimes the economically more sensible solution to the problem. Without question, this is incredibly annoying and expensive, and in the case of a total loss, it is also not particularly ecologically beneficial, as

1. the old device accumulates as electronic scrap
2. the disposal of electrical equipment, which is still not reliably solved.

Better and significantly cheaper is the preventive protection of expensive utensils with professional display protection from Neoxum.Principally, there are two essentially different types of display protection. Flexible display protection, which protects touchscreens from scratches and damage and rigid diplay protection made of pure glass.

Higher sales value for used equipment

When signing a smartphone contract with a common term of 2 to 4 years, a brand-new cell phone is usually included. When the existing contract is extended, the customer often receives a brand-new smartphone. The former phone is no longer needed and is sold. Defects, especially on the screen, reduce the resale value. With the help of high-quality display protection from Neoxum, as a display protection film, anti-reflective OnScreen Hybridglas or crystal-clear OnScreen hybrid glass, the display or display glass remains unharmed and a higher sales value is achieved.

Quality display protection

Surface hardness, material thickness, transparency and also the sensitivity change of the sensor screen are decisive for the quality of a display protection film. The harder the screen protector, the more resistant it is against scratches. Usually, the hardness of the screen protector's surface is indicated in pencil hardness H. But the elasticity also plays an important role: We know this phenomenon from nature. Trees sway in a storm and yield to the force of the wind. Even in powerful storms, healthy trees generally withstand the forces of nature by yielding to the force elastically and adaptably.

We have written a detailed blog post on the topic "Pencil Hardness and Screen Protector Products."

Bamboo and protection of displays - an analogy

Plastic prime example are the Asian breathtaking scaffolds made of bamboo. The natural material (bamboo is a grass!) is enormously flexible and elastic, yet very strong. Bamboo scaffolds are used to build entire skyscrapers. Rigid steel scaffolds, on the other hand, can withstand occurring forces only to a certain extent, until they undoubtedly break. Only the movable scaffolds made of bamboo are so resistant that they can withstand the enormous loads. Responsible for this extraordinary peculiarity is the modulus of elasticity.

And how does this all relate to screen protectors?

Rigid glass screen protectors (tempered glass) certainly have an outstandingly hard surface to protect the screen against scratches and scuffs. Currently very popular is the so-called bulletproof glass (bulletproof glass, real glass or tempered glass protection, tempered glass). This item is real glass. As pure protective glass, bulletproof glass is also often referred to as shockproof display protection glass or anti-shock protection glass. Sometimes it is advisable to question this advertised shock-absorbing feature. In case of an abrupt force (an impulse), for example a fall or a pointed object with a punctual load, a blow or impact with a screwdriver or the like (the device falls with the display on a hard floor), screen protectors made of pure glass break quite quickly. Unfortunately, small pointed and sharp-edged splinters often occur, which pose a not inconsiderable risk of injury.

Display protection for industrial quality requirements

Gerade im Einsatzgebiet des industriellen Displayschutzes hat sich insofern Panzerglas oder auch Panzerglass, Flexoglas, Schutzglas genannt, nicht durchgesetzt, weil hier die Arbeitssicherheit eine ausgesprochen bedeutende Rolle spielt. Neoxum bietet mit OnScreen Hybridglas die Lösung: der hybride Werkstoff hat eine Oberfläche so hart wie Glas mit 9H und ist dennoch biegsam wie eine Displayfolie. Der Zusammenschluss aus Glas mit einer Zwischenschicht aus Schutzfolie zerbricht nicht und verhält sich eher wie Sicherheitsglas oder Verbundglas.
Offensichtlich differieren die auf dem Markt verfügbaren Schutzfolien für Touchscreens in deren Qualität. Eine minderwertige Folie hält scharfkantigen Gegenständen nicht stand.

For example, display protection films, bulletproof glass and hybrid glass are currently being used successfully in the following commercial segments:

• Clinics, hospitals, nursing homes and colleges that need to anti-reflect and incidentally protect and disinfect displays of medical and veterinary examination equipment and patient displays
• Public transport companies that use display protection films, respectively glass hard display protection on conductor devices, ticket machines, ticket vending machines and information terminals to protect them from wear and tear and destruction
• Agricultural machines such as combine harvesters, tractors, milk milking machines, which are now operated with touch functionality on control panels
• Touch panels on CNC milling machines, lasers, NC controlled punching machines

Protective films applied by the device manufacturer

Factory-installed protective films are usually made of polypropylene (PP) or PE (polyethylene) or PVC (polyvinyl chloride) and act more as a transport protection film than a real display protector. These transport protection films, most of which are not cut to fit exactly, are supposed to protect the screen from display damage during final assembly and packing. After this functionality is fulfilled, the particularly easy-to-adhere protective film can simply be removed from the display after the device is purchased. However, there are now exceptions where primarily cell phone manufacturers pre-mount good protective films on the monitors.

Inexpensive display film set

Display films are small useful helpers against the damage of screens and sensitive surfaces. The protection of the display or screen in inexpensive display films is usually made of PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene) or PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Adhesion to surfaces is usually achieved by using adhesives (acrylates or modified acrylate adhesives), which are applied in very thin layers (usually less than 10-20 g of adhesive per square meter of film). Alternatively, for somewhat better protection of displays made of the above-mentioned materials, an adhesive silicone layer is used as an adhesive (adherent but not adhesive) layer.

Cheap protective films

What all three inexpensive to very inexpensive display films have in common is the fact that they are comparatively thin. As a rule, the thickness of inexpensive display films is no more than 60 microns, which corresponds to 0.06 mm. In addition, protective films made of PE and PP are very soft and flexible. This means that the sensitive polymer can be deformed very easily with a small amount of force (better: pressure = force per area). If the applied force (e.g. a zipper scratches the thin protective film) exceeds a certain maximum value, which is very low for simple protective films, an object (key, pen, coin, ballpoint pen, rivet on jeans, stone, zipper, etc.) breaks through the thin polymer protective layer in an instant. The display underneath will certainly be damaged. On top of that, inexpensive protective films defy horizontal shear forces marginally: they can be stretched out extremely effortlessly. When stretched, film material thins out until it tears off when the stretching capacity is exceeded. The low durability and resilience is the reason why cheap suppliers usually offer packs of 3, 6, 9 or even 12 for little money. The protective films are broken relatively quickly and must then be replaced.

Plain display protectors are mostly die-cut in Asia in multiple layers using contour cutting dies. This can sometimes lead to bruising at the cut edges. This not only affects the fit, but also the adhesive layer. In the worst case, the inexpensive screen protector film does not adhere to the edges of the touch display and sticks out. This kind of screen protector does not meet industrial quality standards. According to our advice, displays should be equipped with high-quality and professional screen protectors.

Professional Screen and Surface Protection

Professional display protection films are usually made of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) a polyester material. PET has outstanding optical properties, high tensile strength, a Young's modulus 4500 N-mm² longitudinally and transversely, i.e. with a thickness of the material qualified for a professional screen protector of about 0.1-0.13 mm, an extremely powerful and hard protection of the display is given. Sharp pointed objects cannot easily penetrate to the device display. The screen under the screen protector is protected with high efficiency. Protective films made of high-quality PET are highly resistant to chemicals. Furthermore, display protection films made of PET material are very temperature resistant. We have summarized the key features of Neoxum display films in our technical data sheet. Professional display films from Neoxum are used, for example, in the food industry or in the medical sector, where the displays must be regularly cleaned of germs with disinfectant. The disinfection of the screens does not harm the touch displays at all due to the protection provided by the display film or the OnScreen Hybrid Glass. The surface of good display films has a surface hardness of 3H - 4H. Scratches on the protective film cannot be avoided under massive and intensive load in industrial or commercial use. However, a professional screen protector from Neoxum protects touch displays and displays from scratches, damage, chemicals, including cleaning agents without negatively changing the touch properties.

Why is a good screen protector fit essential?

High-quality display films and OnScreen Hybrid Glass from Neoxum are produced in Germany using modern precision laser machines. The small cutouts and openings on the device display correspond to different sensors of the device. For example, a smartphone may have light sensors, proximity sensors, multiple camera lenses in modern smartphones, a microphone, speaker outputs, and several other openings. To ensure that the functionality is not hindered by a screen protector, all cutouts for the device's detectors are taken into account. This is particularly relevant for light and proximity sensors. The light-sensitive sensors help regulate the automatic shutdown of the display during a call and the automatic brightness adjustment of the display.
For Neoxum display films as well as OnScreen Hybrid Glass, the dimensions are either taken from the original device or manufacturer data is used. Additionally, various data formats from customers or manufacturers can be processed. For 2D data, these include DXF (data exchange format), AI (Adobe Illustrator), CDR (Corel Draw), SVG (scalable vector graphics), and many others. We often receive these 2D data for the creation of custom display protection. For printing on display films and hybrid glass, we can also process pixel graphics (bitmap, JPEG, TIFF) in high resolution. Additionally, we can process various 3D data, such as STP, STEP, and IGES. As previously explained, all cutouts are important when it comes to dimensions. But the dimensions also need to be precisely measured digitally. Some manufacturers use dummy devices (without electronics, just the device casing and display) for measurement. However, this can lead to significant differences compared to the real display. For curved displays, Neoxum display protection products are cut using lasers so that neither the Neoxum protective film nor the Neoxum OnScreen Hybrid Glass extends beyond the edges. Generally, hybrid glass adheres more strongly to the screen surface and is therefore very well-suited for curved displays.
A very thin silicone adhesive layer is responsible for the adhesion on the monitor surface. The adhesive effect is based on the physical principle of adhesion. We have already explained the adhesive effect based on forces in the nanometer range in more detail in another article.

Environmental balance of display protection

Avoidance of electronic waste through high-quality display protection

As expected, a high-quality screen protector extends the life of a device because the control unit, the display, is well protected. Broken or damaged device screens inevitably lead to costly repairs or even complete replacement of the device. Often, it is not worth spending a lot of money to repair the display because new devices cost almost as much. Consequently, broken displays or screens that have become unusable due to wear and tear or a display defect are extremely detrimental ecologically. Preventive screen protection reduces the risk of display damage due to significant impact, such as a display break. Scratches and damage to the monitor are avoided, and in the event of a fall, the likelihood is significantly higher that a display equipped with a screen protector will remain undamaged when it collides with the ground. Therefore, the environmental balance is better with a screen protector than without.

Plastic recycling of display films

Display films, on the other hand, are made of plastic. Cost-effective display films made of PP, PE, or PVC are not particularly durable and therefore need to be replaced regularly. This repeatedly causes avoidable plastic waste. PP and PE can be recycled. Thermal recycling is also possible, leaving only water and carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, we all produce far too much (cheap) plastic waste. Better are high-quality display films made of PET, which are very robust and durable. Additionally, PET display films can be collected in a pure form and recycled, for example, into beverage bottles. PVC display films perform the worst. PVC contains chloride (PVC=polyvinyl chloride), which reacts during thermal recycling (waste incineration) to form toxic dioxins, furans, and hydrochloric acid. Therefore, PVC-contaminated exhaust gases must be detoxified using complex processes. In the long run, it is more sensible to avoid cheap PVC films.

Apply the screen protector to the display.

Low-dust environment

The most important rule when installing screen protectors or glass display protectors is to take your time and set up a low-dust environment. You can easily create such an environment at home in the bathroom. After showering or bathing, the air tends to be humid, and there is generally little dust in the air. These are optimal conditions for the installation of screen protectors (excluding professional installation under cleanroom conditions).