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CNT conductive compounds offer clean means of ESD
Total has commercialized a new electrostatic discharge (ESD) product range. This new carbon nanotube (CNT) technology offers solutions to avoid damage associated with static electricity, a key issue that concerns all aspects of electronics manufacturing.
October 2, 2015
2 Min Read
Total has commercialized a new electrostatic discharge (ESD) product range. This new carbon nanotube (CNT) technology offers solutions to avoid damage associated with static electricity, a key issue that concerns all aspects of electronics manufacturing.
CNT-PS compounds can be applied in ESD trays. |
High performance polystyrene (PS) and polyolefins compounds have been developed for sheet extrusion, thermoforming, rotational molding and injection. More specifically, the Total CNT compounds exhibit a unique balance of cleanliness, processability and electrical performances. "We do not disclose the exact CNT loading in our product. All I can just say that the technology we developed allows us reaching conductive or dissipative properties at very low CNT loading, hence providing to the customer a unique balance of cleanliness, processability and electrical performance," says Dimitri Rousseaux, Research Engineer, Total Research & Technology (Seneffe, Belgium)
"Developing such an innovative solution required several years of research, testing and product development, leading finally to the first successful commercial orders last quarter," says Xavier Bontemps, Senior VP of Total's Polymers Business Unit - "This outcome demonstrates again our teams' capabilities to serve the market with three core mindsets: customer proximity, cost effectiveness and high quality standards."
The main applications for PS compounds are thermoformed ESD trays and carrier tapes. One particular PS grade, TEC_PS_0010, is a black conductive polystyrene-CNT concentrate that can be diluted by up to 90% with natural impact polystyrene. It possesses a surface resistance of <105 Ω and a density of 1.04. The melt flow rate (200°C/5 kg) is 1.8 g/10 min. Further, no drying is required.
The main applications for PE compounds are rotomolded containers and industrial parts molded to Atex standards. The rotomolding grade, TEC_PE_0002, has a surface resistance of <106 Ω and a density of 0.935. The main applications for PP compounds are injected boxes or crates.
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