LG Display Showcases a Prototype Soft, Flexible Full-Color Panel — That Stretches By Up to 50%
The company's latest flexible display prototype is shown off as a shape-shifting car screen and a wearable information panel.
LG Display has developed a next-generation stretchable display, a color panel that is the first to stretch to an impressive 150 percent of its starting length — while continuing to display an image.
Unveiled at an event in LG Science Park this month, the company's prototype 12" display has a 100 pixels per inch (PPI) resolution and full-color red, green, and blue (RGB) subpixels. Unlike most displays, though, it's soft and flexible — and can be stretched up to to 18" in size, while continuing to display a live, full-resolution image.
The project builds on LG Display's work from 2022, when it unveiled a first-generation stretchable display capable of increasing its size by 20 percent — compared to 50 percent in the second-generation panel, built on a substrate used in the manufacture of contact lenses and featuring a new wiring structure.
The panel also moves to a micro-LED lighting system, which LG Display says improves its durability. The prototype has been tested to 10,000 stretch-relax cycles without showing any drop in display quality, the company claims. It can also be applied to uneven surfaces, including the human body, withstands shock, and can operate in high and low temperature extremes.
While the display is, for now, merely a proof-of-concept prototype, the company also showcased potential applications — including an in-car display system that stretches out into a convex shape and a wearable display for firefighters' uniforms for real-time information display in the field.
"We will continue to build a sustainable future display ecosystem through close cooperation between South Korean industry, academia, and research stakeholders," LG Display chief technical officer and executive vice-president Soo-young Yoon said at the event — though, while the company has stated that it has "secured core technologies" as part of a joint venture promoted by South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), no timescale for commercialization has been provided.