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Electrostatic discharge materials (ESD materials) are plastics that reduce static electricity to protect electrostatic-sensitive devices (ESD) or contain flammable liquids or gases.
Contents
Materials
ESD materials are generally subdivided into categories with related properties: Anti-Static, Conductive, and Dissipative.
Insulative
Insulative materials prevent or limit the flow of electrons across their surface or through their volume. Insulative materials have a high electrical resistance and are difficult to ground, thus are not ESD materials. Static charges remain in place on these materials for a very long time.
Anti-Static
Anti-static materials are generally referred to as any material which inhibits triboelectric charging. This kind of charging is the buildup of an electric charge by the rubbing or contact with another material.
Dissipative
Dissipative materials allow the charges to flow to ground more slowly in a more controlled manner than with conductive materials.
Conductive
Conductive materials have a low electrical resistance, thus electrons flow easily across the surface or through these materials. Charges go to ground or to another conductive object that the material contacts.