Development of a tool for objective measurements of tactile properties of materials: optimization of plastics manufacturing processes – PlasticTouchDevice

Touch perception is one of the essential sensitive ways for representing our environment. It also plays a key part in industry since touch property is considered to be a major quality criterion for a great deal of current products: pads, smart phones, cars, textiles, cosmetics, leather, food products, packaging, "soft feel" products,… From the raw material to the finished product, via the various transformation phases of materials, each process step has an impact on our senses.
In order to adapt their products to the tactile needs of consumers, the industrials of plastics compete of ingeniousness to create complex surfaces incorporating texture, material and thickness. However with age, the tactile perception decreases and the touch perception of an object by a young is very different from that of an elderly person.
The plastic industry sector, which is constantly looking for high value added products, has felt the growing need to control and qualify the tactile feeling of its various plastics. The aim of this project is to enhance the performance and control of plastic industrialists' development processes by giving them the possibility to anticipate the sense characteristics of the materials and products they develop. The plastic industry is a key player for the economic development and job market in France. It accounts for 7% of industrial jobs. For a few years, major international research programs about the development of new plastics transmitting emotions through texture (cosmetics, cars…) or smart products incorporating electronics ("plastronics"). These functional plastic products for molded supports represent tomorrow's market for plastic products. These new products including more functions will have to take into account the control of plastic products tactile properties. With such decoration processes as IML (In Mould Labeling) or IMD (In Mould Decoration), the plastic material may have a different texture for each related tactile function.
In order to measure an object tactile feeling, it is most current to contact touch experts called "panel members". This purely subjective method consists of having the softness of the surfaces estimated by groups of individuals. Those sense properties measuring methods are too costly and difficult to implement and cannot be carried out at the end of the production process to obtain fast and relevant quality control. This cannot be envisaged within the industrial framework encompassed by this project. It is therefore important to offer proper technological solutions to the specialists of this industrial sector. In order to meet those requirements, the Laboratory of Tribology and System Dynamics of the Ecole Centrale de Lyon (LTDS - UMR CNRS 5513), a French pioneer and leader in the development of specific tools for touch measurement, has developed an expertise and technologies for touch objective measurements. The partners from industry CFP, TEXEN and MULTIBASE will work on the material, processes and surface states of those pieces by means of treatments providing tactile (slippery, soft…) as well as visual feeling. This joint work between research laboratories and industrial specialists will make it possible to provide scientific solutions to the requirements and demands of plastic industry specialists, thus ensuring guaranteed productivity by means of high value added, quality products perfectly adapted to the needs of the objective touch measurement market.
The aim of the Plastic Touch Device project is to develop innovative methods and technologies. No such technology for the fast objective touch measurement of plastics combined with artificial memory has ever been developed on the national or European scene. This project demonstrates the excellence and relevance of French research teams in the field of objective touch measurement, thus making it possible for them to remain at the cutting edge of technology.