Hi there, can anyone tell me how the finish on the back of the Amazon Kindle 3 is achieved? It is a matt, rubbery texture… I have been doing some research and it might be injection molded Santoprene - the same thing used on Oxo GoodGrips, but I’m not entirely sure.
I was recently at a consumer electronics expo in Hong Kong and it seems that everything coming out of China at the moment is sporting the same finish, so it’s definitely a ‘hot’ new material.
Cheers
Just seen it referred to as ‘soft-touch’ http://www.objet.com/Rapid-Prototyping-Applications/Connex_Applications_Overview/Soft_Touch_Coating/
Have not held Kindle and can not really understand the texture but maybe you are talking about standard ABS or other injection molded plastic that it spray coated with rubber. Not 100% sure though. Many electronics companies use this technique as you have plastic but with not this hard cold feeling but something more warm and “soft”…
If it’s soft touch, it’s a paint - not molded. It’s used a lot on electronics, but has an unfortunate problem of rubbing/scratching off off some parts after a year or so
Yeah have not held a new version myself either.
Santoprene is just a specific brand of TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomer, AKA synthetic rubber). This is not a material that can be used on it’s own to form a hard case (it requires some type of hard plastic substrate which increases wall thickness) so if I had to gamble I would say that it probably is a soft touch finish.
Soft touch can be paint (colored) or just applied as a UV Clearcoat to give that soft rubbery finish - it’s very common on electronics. If the surface is soft and actually pliable (IE you could dent it with your fingernail) it’s probably a rubber. If it’s hard to the touch like plastic, it’s probably just a soft touch clear coat on top of the hard plastic. If you had one to destroy, the easiest way to tell is try scratching it off.
it’s a coating over the grey plastic. I just scraped some away with my fingernail. Pretty tough though.