As the electronic devices are getting smaller in geometry, they become more susceptible to ESD damage.  More and more ESD protective equipments and materials are manufactured and made available in the market place to help companies to combat their ESD problems. Some of the commonly used protective equipments and/or materials are wrist straps, heel straps, ESD shoes, ionizers, ESD mats, ESD smocks, ESD protective tote boxes and ESD static shielding bags.  All the ESD protective equipments or materials are designed either to ground/neutralize the static charges or to provide protection from harmful electrostatic field voltage.  ESD smocks are one of the key materials used to protect ESDS items from harmful electrostatic field voltage, which is generated from a wearer’s internal street clothing.  There a few types of ESD smock in the market. Most of them are either made of polyester/cotton or a mixture of polyester and cotton material with conductive fibres sewn in singular lines or crosschecked patterns. 

An ESD smock that is made of polyester with conductive fibres sewn in crosschecked patterns is the preferred choice over the cotton type or fabric with singular conductive lines.  The ESD smock with crosschecked patterns does not only provide better shielding effect from harmful electrostatic field voltage, it also gives better electrical resistance between panels of the ESD smock.  Static charges that sit around the conductive fibres on the ESD smock are drained to ground either through a grounding wire that comes with the ESD smock or through a contact between the ESD smock and the skin of a wearer.  The contact between the ESD smock and the skin of the wearer is achieved either by having an elastic band or a snap button at the wrist portion of the ESD smock.  The conductive fibres or threads that are sewn on the ESD smock are easily damaged by a strong laundry detergent or through ironing. 

Companies will have to set controls on the ESD smocks to ensure they last longer and provide the necessary protection to the ESD sensitive devices that are used in the production assembly lines. 

 

 

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This entry was posted on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 14:24 and is filed under ESD personnel grounding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.