ESD Characteristics of ST-Poly

1) Surface Resistivity: This can be controlled in our "plating" process from 10^4~10^9 ohms/square depending on your requirement! It is also HUMIDITY INDEPENDENT.
Electronic Products such as laser diodes, pacemakers, IC chips etc are becoming increasingly sensitive to ESD and there is a growing reqt for a transparent barcode scannable yet dissipative material.

2) Static Decay: Depending upon the chosen resistivity ST-Poly will decay at different rates and customers must consider this in their choice. However it is fair to say that usually under 1 second is standard for most ST-Poly trays.

3) Tribocharging: ST-Poly is excellent at NOT charging under intense conditions where speed and heat are factors. This is due to the nature of the ST-poly conductive polymer which is bonded to the base plastic creating a "tribo-shield".

4) Volume Resistivity: In the case of molded components with ST-Poly plating these are volume resistive to the order of 104~1010 ohms depending upon the surface resistivity that was chosen.

5 reasons to use ST-Poly

1. ESD SAFE (See Below for ESD characteristics)

2. TRANSPARENT: Can verify contents of tray without removing cover and can read BARCODES with scanner, thereby reducing handling time and handling mistakes. Ideal for automated factories.

3. FLEXIBLE: ST-Poly can be bonded or "plated" to almost any base plastic from sheet plastics such as PET, PP and PS through to molded plastics like polycarbonate, nylon, PPS and PPE. It can also be applied to KAPTON and is an excellent solution for FPC ESD problems.

4. CLEAN: ST-Poly is made up mostly of polypyrrole conductive polymer making it ideal for HDD, medical and other contamination sensitive industries. Central will happily provide data and samples.

5. LOW COST: Compared to other similar ESD plastics ST-poly is priced lower than most. In addition in the case of molded trays it is usually MUCH LOWER cost because we do not use expensive fillers such as carbon or stainless steel.

What is ST-Poly?

ST-Poly is a true breakthrough in materials science.

ST-Poly is a unique "conductive polymer plating" that can be attached to almost any base plastic material. It is ideal for both formed and molded trays.

ST-Poly provides various industries affected by ESD problems with a clean, low-cost transparent ESD solution: ST-Poly contains no carbon, no metal, no corrosive agents. It is very clean and can be used in the toughest cleanrooms AND be rewashed in either ultrasonic DI or IPA without any degradation or contamination.

It can replace expensive contaminating non-transparent vacuum formed and molded trays with a low cost, clean and transparent recyclable solution. Never has a truly dissipative/conductive material been transparent to the point of barcode scannability until ST-Poly. You can see ST-Poly(on the left) vs carbon coated to the right and the difference is CLEAR.

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How it works

ST-Poly technology coats a molded (or extruded) product with a conductive monomer having an electronic conjugated system. A uniform conductive polymer film is produced through a polymerization reaction, and is then applied. The new method achieves a cleanliness level that can be used in information-related equipment and cuts costs by about 1/2 compared to existing methods.

Currently available anti-electrostatic measures for molded products include the application of a paint containing conductive fillers, such as metal granules and carbon, or a conductive material such as a surfactant. However, these methods are expensive and carbon fall-out results in contamination. Therefore, they have particularly been problematic for components used in information-related equipment, such as HDD components, which require a high level of cleanliness.