STATIC CONTROL TERMINOLOGY
Selecting static control (esd) flooring can be a confusing and daunting task, which can be even more confusing without fully understanding the technical industry jargon. Antistatic floors, ESD floors, dissipative and conductive floors and the differences (or similarities) between them can be confusing. To assist the facility manager, contractor, architect, procurement officer, etc. understand the nuances of the static control flooring industry, Julie Industries has compiled a glossary of commonly used static control terms.
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Static Control Flooring: A generic term used to describe any form of flooring that is designed to reduce static electricity on people. Static control flooring is available in numerous forms including: carpeting, carpet tiles, vinyl tile, rubber tile and epoxy coatings. A more specific description should be used when specifying this type of flooring. A meaningful flooring specification should always include electrical resistance in Ohms and triboelectric performance measured in volts.
Static Control Floor Finish: A non-permanent coating periodically applied to existing floor surfaces that dissipates static charges by grounding personnel, equipment, or other objects contacting the floor finish or that controls the generation and accumulation of static charges associated with floor materials.
Static Control Floor Mat: A movable island of material placed over existing flooring that dissipates static charges by grounding personnel, equipment, or other objects contacting the floor material or that controls the generation and accumulation of static charges associated with the material.
Static Control Floor Material: A permanently installed floor material such as tile, carpet, polymer, epoxy or sheet flooring that dissipates static charges by grounding personnel, equipment, or other objects contacting the floor material or that controls the generation and accumulation of static charges associated with floor materials.
Static Dissipative flooring: Static dissipative floors are defined by a property called electrical resistance. Electrical resistance is measured in ohms. The important parameter for describing a floor is the static control flooring resistance to ground or path to ground. In order to meet the qualification of static dissipative, a floor must have an electrical resistance to ground of ≥ 1 X 106 (one million ohms) AND < 1 X 109. Static dissipative should never be confused with the terms Conductive or Antistatic (sometimes hyphenated as anti-static). Note: The old definition of static dissipative was; A material that can conduct an electrical charge and has an inherent resistivity range between 1 x 104 ohms and 1 x 1011 ohms Sometimes referred to as electrically dissipative. This old definition does not apply to flooring.
Static Control Footwear (shoes): Covering for the human foot that have properties to control the accumulation of static charge when used in conjunction with a static control floor or floor finish, or floor mat.
Static Control Seating: Chairs used in conjunction with a static control floor or static control floor mat that are intended to control the generation, accumulation and dissipation of electrostatic charge associated with the seating.
Static Decay Test: A procedure in which an item is first charged to a specified voltage, then allowed to dissipate to a specified voltage while measuring the duration of the discharge.
Static Electricity: Literally “electricity at rest.” Static electricity is the stored energy that becomes dangerous when it becomes an ESD event. Static electricity is the result of the exchange of electrons that occurs during friction between objects. This friction causes the ESD event, which can disrupt production, cause fires, damage computers and sensitive electronic components, cause computers and other electronic equipment to malfunction and lose important data.
Static-Resistant Resilient Flooring: Having antistatic (anti-static) properties. Any resilient flooring material such as rubber or vinyl that will not generate excessive quantities of static electricity. Describing a flooring material as static resistant, does not mean that the material can also ground or discharge static electricity. A static resistant material may lack conductive properties necessary for grounding of static charges. The ideal static control material should be both conductive and antistatic.
A term found in Division 9 - Finishes 09650.6 Static-resistant resilient flooring
StaticSmart FiberLink: This is a unique conductive monofilament spun within the yarn bundle. It is used to achieve conductive contact points on the surface of the carpet.
Surface Resistance: The ratio of DC voltage to the current flowing between two electrodes of specified configuration that contact the same side of a material. This measurement is expressed in ohms.
Surface Resistivity: For electric current flowing across a surface, the ratio of DC voltage drop per unit length to the surface current per unit width. In effect, the surface resistivity is the resistance between two opposite sides of a square and is independent of the size of the square or its dimensional units. Surface resistivity is expressed in ohms/square.
Topical Antistat: An antistat that is applied to the surface of a material for the purpose of making the surface static dissipative or to reduce triboelectric charging.
Total Cost of Ownership: The real cost for a product, encompassing materials, installation, maintenance, anticipated repairs and necessary monitoring. For example, a floor requiring periodic buffing and conductive wax applications also requires testing and monitoring after each maintenance interval, to ensure electrical compliance. When maintenance prohibits the use of space, this cost should also be factored in. Monitoring and other hidden costs are often overlooked or ignored in the initial cost analysis.
Triboelectric Charging: The generation of electrostatic charges when two materials make contact or are rubbed together, then separated. (See also Triboelectric series)
Triboelectric Series: A list of materials arranged so that one can become positively charged when separated from one farther down the list, or negatively charged when separated from one farther up the list. Note: The series' main utility is to indicate likely resultant charge polarities after triboelectric generation. However, this series is derived from specially prepared and cleaned materials tested in very controlled conditions. In everyday circumstances, materials reasonably close to one another in the series can produce charge polarities opposite to that expected. This series is only a guide.
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For Technical Assistance
Please contact our Customer Service desk at (978) 276-0820, or send our Technical Support division an email at: techsupport@julieind.com
