What Does ESD Stand For?
The ESD in ESD fabric stands for Electro-Static Device, and is also known as anti-static clothing.
- What Are They Used For?
These types of clothing are used either to prevent any damage being done to electronic components, or to protect people working with flammable liquids and gases from harm.
Antistatic garments are used in many industries such as electronics, communications, telecommunications and defence applications. As computers and electronics become ever more pervasive in consumer products so an increasing number of manufacturers will need to apply anti-static control measures.
Transportation of electrostatic sensitive devices also requires packaging that provides protection from electrostatic hazards in the transportation or storage system.
- What is the Biggest Source of Static Electricity?
People are the greatest source of static charge in the workplace, which is the primary reason for the existence of ESD apparel.
Mobile phones are also a hazard, due to the tiny sparks which occur when the backlight is switched on, and when keys are pressed.
- How Does Static Charge Actually Build Up?
Static charge is generally caused by electricity building up with no way to earth it. Think of the rubber mud flaps on a car - they are there to ground the car and divert any electric potential which has built up in the metal to escape into the earth.
- What is the Recommended Relative Humidity That a Room Should be Kept at for ESD Purposes?
There are no hard and fast rules or specifications regarding humidity for control of static electricity in the current ESD Program Management Standards.
- What are the Resistance Characteristics of Conductive Packing Materials and Dissipative Packing Materials?
The surface of a packaging material that contacts a sensitive part needs to be dissipative. Conductive is not recommended for direct contact with sensitive items. This applies to bag and film types of packaging materials.
- What is Each Used For?
It is OK to use conductive materials in tote boxes and other rigid containers since most of the time only small areas of the part may contact the conductive surface, and this reduces the risk to a minimum.Dissipative most often is best inside of an Electrostatic Protected Area (EPA) but Conductive is OK to use as well.
- Static Electricity Generation is a Dynamic Process-Changing at Every Interface Between the Web and Rollers. How Do I Control It?
For this application, ionizer bars should be placed cross-web at a down web distance of approximately 3 to 4 times the roller diameter from the tangent point of the web passing over the roller.
- How Do I Test an Earthed Copper Rod to Verify that it Can Provide the ESD Protection Expected?
The tester you are using needs to have an output voltage of at least one hundred volts to make the resistance measurement of the copper rod.
- How Can I Measure Air for Static Charge?
As the charge would be the result of contaminate movement in the compressed air, blowing the air against an isolated conductive plate and then measuring the plate with a field meter may be one way to measure the charge present.
- Does the ESD Association Have Any Research Which Covers the Use of Wireless Wrist Straps?
Cordless or wireless wrist straps have been marketed for a number of years by now.While there may be some merit for high voltage applications, there is little application in conventional electronic assembly or service operations.
