Thermoplastics take control of resistance

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Apr 15, 2005

Premix Thermoplastics has developed a new line of electrically conductive thermoplastic compounds with "controlled resistance" levels.

Premix Thermoplastics has developed a new line of electrically conductive thermoplastic compounds with "controlled resistance" levels.

Called Pre-Elec CR, these new compounds allow users to specify the electrical resistivity range (either volume or surface) required for a particular application.

Pre-Elec CR products are fully compounded and can be molded without concern for "hot spots".

For many applications, these new compounds offer a cost-effective alternative to the more costly inherently dissipative polymers (IDPs) for providing static dissipation.

Most compounds on the market follow the Electronics Industries Association's (EIA) 541 Standard for resistivity yet many applications require much tighter specifications.

Premix Pre-Elec CR compounds can be tailored to the applications requirements: when volume resistance is important, volume resistivity is specified; and when surface resistance is important, surface resistivity is specified.

Pre-Elec compounds have carefully controlled conductive additive levels manufactured with precision compounding techniques, which means they can be electrically controlled to give the proper resistivity value for the application.

While the most common volume resistance range is 1Mohm-cm to 1Gohm-cm, Premix can manufacture virtually any resistivity range from less than 1ohm-cm to 100Gohm-cm in most polymers using carbon black.

In many lower temperature polymers, the electrical resistivity ranges can be controlled with inherently conductive polymers (ICPs) alloys within 1kohm/square to 100Gohm/square, and with inherently dissipative polymers (IDPs) alloys from 1Mohm/square to 1Tohm/square.