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Wearables

You’re working out and your earbuds keep falling out, or your glasses are slipping down your nose. Setex’s anti-slip microstructures provide a high friction solution that can increase the coefficient of friction to skin 250% in wet and oily conditions when compared to flat materials! And unlike other high-friction solutions that can rub and irritate, the microstructures’ texture is comfortable and non-chafing, making it the perfect solution for wearable devices and accessories. Our consumer brand offers aftermarket anti-slip solutions for many accessories and devices, and the same high-friction technology can be directly incorporated onto products.

Eyewear

Our patented, gecko-inspired nose pads and temple tip grips provide the strongest, most comfortable grip on the market, even on sweaty skin. Whether you’re on your bike, running, or simply working on your laptop, you’ll never need to worry about your eyewear slipping again. No matter how sweaty you get, and which direction you move or bounce your glasses will stay perched in the same spot!

Our consumer brand stick-on nose pads (the #1 Seller on Amazon!) and temple tip grips are available as an add-on to your full frame eyewear.
Our high friction technology also is available as a custom in-mold surface treatment for nose pads and temple tips that are injection molded.

THE TECH

Setex patented microfibers are designed like geckos’ toe hairs, or setae, to provide a comfortable and secure grip, even on sweaty and oily skin. Soft elastomers which have been molded into Setex’s gecko-inspired microstructures demonstrate up to 3X the coefficients of friction on wet, sweaty, and oily skin. For such materials, Setex has a patented a method to produce injection molded (or other molding process) micropatterned tooling surfaces which enable our customers to mass-produce molded parts with friction-enhancing microfiber surfaces using the same materials, processes, and vendors that they know and love. Setex also produces microstructured stick-on nose pads and temple tip grips direct for applications where the grip is provided as an add-on.
Friction Testing on Wet & Oily Synthetic Skin
Friction Testing on Wet & Oily Synthetic Skin

THE TECH

Setex patented microfibers are designed like geckos’ toe hairs, or setae, to provide a comfortable and secure grip, even on sweaty and oily skin. Soft elastomers which have been molded into Setex’s gecko-inspired microstructures demonstrate up to 3X the coefficients of friction on wet, sweaty, and oily skin. For such materials, Setex has a patented a method to produce injection molded (or other molding process) micropatterned tooling surfaces which enable our customers to mass-produce molded parts with friction-enhancing microfiber surfaces using the same materials, processes, and vendors that they know and love. Setex also produces microstructured stick-on nose pads and temple tip grips direct for applications where the grip is provided as an add-on.

Thousands of mushroom shaped fibers mimic geckos’ toe hairs – i/e/ setae.

Flexible Setex fibers provide soft, confortable contact to skin.

Setex’s microstructures provide a secure grip in wet and oily conditions.

Consumer Electronics

While traditional anti-slip surfaces and textures can grip to skin in dry conditions, when sweat is introduced, things start really slipping. Video game controller grips become sweaty and slick, earbuds fall out, and activity tracking bands can slide around creating issues for biometric sensors and cause skin irritation. Setex’s gecko-inspired gripping technology has a solution for this.

We have launched products under our Setex consumer brand for adding grip to video game controllers and wireless earbuds. Our thumbstick grips fit over the existing analog controller sticks and provide an ultra-strong grip even on sweaty thumbs and are available in 3 different heights. Our wireless earbud grip pads stick onto earbuds to prevent slipping and falling out, and are thin enough to not interfere with charging cases. Our technology is also available as a custom in-mold surface treatment to add the high-friction microfibers directly onto the surface of parts.

THE TECH

Setex grips are a high friction microfiber surface inspired by the microscopic hairs, or setae, of a gecko’s foot. The microfiber tips provide enhanced friction, and the gaps of space present in the fiber array function to wick away water and oil from the surface, improving the coefficient of friction even in these difficult conditions.

To incorporate this technology into products, Setex will treat the molding tool’s surface so that the resulting molded part is produced with high friction microfibers on the surface, directly integrated and made out of the same material as the part. These microfiber molded parts, using customer plastics, gain a significant increase in the coefficient of friction, typically over 200% to skin in wet and oily conditions and provide a more comfortable feel. Setex has demonstrated the ability to mold its high friction Setex-microfibers out of a wide range of polymer chemistries and hardness including thermoplastics, rubbers, and silicones.

Also available as pre-produced grip pads for secondary incorporation onto parts.