February 2009 – Ground Zero Electrostatics Blog

Can ESD Wax be applied to bring back dissipative properties?

Q: Into our manufacturing area we have a dissipative floor installed, some areas has lost the dissipative properties, we are using ESD wax to correct those areas.

We are not having good results, we measure point to point and point to ground and these areas still measure insulative, my question is:
The ESD wax only works in floors with dissipative properties, or could it be applied on areas where the floor has lost the dissipation properties?”

A: Thanks for contacting us. This is one of those questions that I like to pounce on, because it brings up many current misconceptions in the ESD flooring industry. I’m going to answer your question about using chemicals to perhaps patch up certain areas in your flooring system, but I’m going to reach beyond that question and give a comparison of the ESD flooring system vs an otherwise non-ESD flooring system with an ESD sealer applied to it. We supply both options here, by the way. I hope you find what you need here and that this response helps guide you in your application.
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How to measure ohms of ESD Chair back rest

Q: Hi, I am a fresh ESD engineer. I need to perform a testing on ESD chair by using 5 pound Megohmmeter. I encountered a problem when I was trying to test on the backrest and rear of backrest. The backrest is a vertical plate, how to put a 5 pound electrode perpendicular to that surface? Even ANSI/ESD STM 12.1 2006 also not mentioned clearly about the testing on the backrest. Can I hold the 5 pound electrode by my hands so that it is contact with surface of the backrest? Or is there any other proper way?”

A: Hello, I understand your frustration with some of these tests.

It sounds like you’ve got all the proper testing equipment and you’re following the best procedures for this. The main concern is to see that the seat, seat back and arms are making good contact to the personnel, that personnel is wearing the proper clothing so as to enable the combination of personnel to chair to esd flooring system to electrical ground are enabling the tribocharge to recombine to earth. If you have an ESD chair that includes a static conductive/dissipative seat, back, arms, casters, etc. we can make these resistance measurements to the chair’s groundable point, to a plate sitting underneath a caster, and ultimately, all the way across the floor to earth ground.
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