rkarlqu@hpscdc.scd.hp.com (Rick Karlquist) (12/07/89)
We bought some plastic storage boxes that were coated with a blue anti-static film. They told us it passed both a Hewlett-Packard and a mil-spec anti-static test. However, when we used one of the boxes to store chip resistors, we noticed that they would stick to the top and sides of the box, as if being held by static electricity. We could not measure any conductivity of the film on the 10 Megohm scale of an ohmmeter, even with the probes a millimeter apart. The vendor claims the parts are being held to the top of the box by the "surface lubricity" whatever that is. Can anyone out there enlighten us about this buzzword. Any opinion as to whether the box is or is not static proof? Rick Karlquist HP Santa Clara rkarlqu@hpscd.hp.com
mmm@cup.portal.com (Mark Robert Thorson) (12/12/89)
When a plastic is "anti-static" treated, that means it has been subjected to a chemical process which removes highly polar groups on the surface of the plastic, thereby reducing its tendency to generate static electricity. It doesn't make the stuff conductive. All the conductive plastics I've ever seen were jet-black in color.