“Versaflex” CE TPE materials for consumer electronics from PolyOne GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers (McHenry, Illinois / USA; www.glstpes.com), part of US compounder and distributor PolyOne (Cleveland, Ohio / USA; www.polyone.com), are now available in combination with the company’s “Percept” authentication technologies. The development will help brand owners combat counterfeiting and reduce the risks associated with fraudulent goods such as phone cases, smart watches, headphones, earbuds and other wearable electronics, the company said.

“Percept” technologies can be tailored to a wide variety of processing conditions, end-use applications, and authentication techniques based on overt, covert, or forensic-based approaches, PolyOne said. This enables the identification of counterfeit products with easy-to-use methods based on additives and unique identifiers called taggants.

Charles Page, director of global marketing, PolyOne GLS Thermoplastic Elastomers, said: “When designing innovative consumer products, it is extremely important to protect brand equity, differentiated offering and overall revenues. Our new solution combines Percept’s anti-counterfeiting ability with the haptics and durability of Versaflex CE TPEs.”

In 2013, the US Department of Homeland Security (www.dhs.gov) recorded USD 145m worth of counterfeit consumer electronics entering the country. PolyOne’s development will help counteract this, Page added.