A film built for military stealth may end up inside your next foldable
Stealth technology built for foldable phones might sound unlikely, but that’s exactly what military engineers just created. They spent years building a film that hides fighter jets from radar — and it turns out that same film solves a problem inside your phone’s hinge.
Here’s how stealth tech and foldable phones ended up on the same research bench.
Core Highlights.
• Researchers at Korea’s KIMS and KIST developed an ultra-thin film originally designed for radar-cloaking military hardware.
• The film combines carbon nanotube fibers with MXene, an inorganic compound, in a layered “brick and mortar” structure.
• It measures just 17.5 micrometers thick, roughly a fifth the width of a human hair.
• Despite its thinness, it reaches a tensile strength of 1.02 gigapascals, comparable to high-strength steel.
• It blocks more than 99.9999999% of incoming electromagnetic waves, with a shielding score of up to 90 decibels.
• The material could shield a foldable phone’s hinge circuitry and ribbon cables from electromagnetic interference.
• It also suppresses infrared emission, meaning it can mask heat signatures as well as block signals.
• Two technology transfer agreements are already underway to bring the material to commercial manufacturing.
1.Why Stealth Technology Is Now Powering Foldable Phones
Why Stealth Technology Is Now Powering Foldable Phones
Carbon nanotube fibers act as bricks; MXene fills the gaps like mortar
Military radar-cloaking technology and smartphone hinges sound like they belong in entirely different worlds. However, they actually share a surprisingly similar engineering challenge. Both need materials that are thin, tough, and capable of managing electromagnetic signals without adding bulk or weight.
Standard metal shielding fails at this task. It’s too heavy, it corrodes, and it simply won’t bend the way a foldable hinge demands. As a result, researchers needed something fundamentally different, and that search led them back to a material built for stealth aircraft.
2. The Science Behind the “Brick and Mortar” Design.
The film’s structure explains why it performs so well despite being so thin. Carbon nanotube fibers act as the “bricks,” providing strength and excellent electrical conductivity. MXene, meanwhile, fills the gaps between them like conductive cement.
This combination solves a problem each material struggled with on its own. Carbon nanotube fibers are famously difficult to assemble into large, uniform sheets, and they tend to glow brightly under infrared sensors. By binding them together with MXene, researchers created a stable, continuous structure that keeps electricity flowing evenly across the entire film.
3. Just How Thin Are We Talking?
At 17.5 micrometers, it’s a fraction of the width of a human hair
Numbers help put this in perspective. A human hair typically measures somewhere between 70 and 100 micrometers across. This film comes in at just 17.5 micrometers, roughly a fifth of that width, while still blocking nearly all incoming electromagnetic waves and hiding effectively from infrared detection.
4. What This Actually Means for Your Next Foldable Phone.
The film could wrap a foldable’s hinge circuitry without adding bulk
Here’s the part that matters most for anyone who’s dealt with a flaky foldable hinge. This film could shield the hinge’s internal circuitry and ribbon cables from electromagnetic interference, without adding stiffness or extra thickness to the design.
In practice, that could translate to fewer hinge-related failures over time and potentially slimmer foldable devices going forward. To be clear, this doesn’t erase the visible crease line on a foldable’s display. That’s a separate display-engineering challenge. Instead, it targets the hinge’s durability and internal electronics, which is still one of the most failure-prone parts of any foldable phone.
5. A Second, Less Obvious Use Case.
Foldables aren’t the only devices that could benefit here. As 5G networks expand and 6G development accelerates, packing multiple antennas into increasingly slim devices creates a genuine engineering headache. When components sit too close together, their electromagnetic signals start interfering with each other.
This ultra-thin film could act as an effective barrier between those components. Because it adds virtually no thickness, it could line the inside of slim smartphones, smartwatches, wearables, and foldable tablets alike, without forcing manufacturers to compromise on size.
6. How Close Is This to Actually Shipping?
From lab research to commercial manufacturing — the process is already underway
This isn’t a finished product yet, so it’s worth setting expectations accurately. The research, published in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials, is still moving through core patent filings. That said, two separate technology transfer agreements are already underway to move the carbon nanotube fiber production process toward commercial manufacturing partners.
If those partnerships succeed at scaling production, this material could realistically start appearing in consumer electronics within the next few product generations, though no specific phone or timeline has been confirmed yet.
Frequently Asked Questions.
Does this new film get rid of the crease on foldable phone screens?
No. The film addresses electromagnetic shielding and durability inside a foldable’s hinge, not the visible crease on the display itself, which remains a separate engineering challenge tied to the screen’s physical layers.
What is the new radar-cloaking film made of?
It combines carbon nanotube fibers with MXene, an inorganic compound, layered together in a structure researchers describe as similar to bricks and mortar, giving it both flexibility and strength.
How thin is the new material?
The film measures approximately 17.5 micrometers thick, about a fifth the width of a single human hair, while still reaching a tensile strength of 1.02 gigapascals.
When will this technology appear in actual phones?
No confirmed timeline exists yet. Researchers are still finalizing patents, though two technology transfer agreements are underway to begin scaling commercial production.
If you’re curious about where foldable phone design is headed next, you might also want to check out our breakdown of Apple’s iPhone Duo pre-order details, including how its own hinge and display technology compares.
Sources: Reporting based on Digital Trends, TechXplore, EurekAlert, and Interesting Engineering, covering research from Korea’s Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) and Institute of Science and Technology (KIST).