ESD Flooring Solutions
What Is ESD Flooring?
ESD Flooring are grounding solutions that prevent electrostatic discharge within a particular environment (an EPA). Many electric devices of today’s age are sensitive to static, with some even suffering catastrophic failures due to the right static control methods not being in place.
The purpose of ESD flooring is to transfer the electrical charge built up through people’s movements into the floor. In turn this eliminates the static discharge that can be created through contact in the EPA.
ESD matting and floor tiles work in 2 ways:
- Creating a traceable path to the ground, making the people on the mat grounded.
- Prevents static generation, so that as people walk through the area, the floor prevents the static from being generated.
You can purchase ESD flooring from Kaisertech, made with the following materials:
- Stainless Steel Fibres
- Rubber ESD Matting
- PVC
- Vinyl ESD Mats
When Do I Need ESD Flooring?
In many work environments, the most common reason for ESD is the static that is generated when people walk about the building. Combining both ESD flooring and ESD shoes will help to maintain the integrity of your EPA.
As you go about your daily business, walking on certain surfaces creates a friction between both the ground and the walker. This in turn creates static electricity which stays on our bodies until we touch another person or object. This creates electrostatic discharge (ESD).
Should your workplace be an EPA, or you work with components that are static sensitive, you can cause degradation or catastrophic failure in the items.
What To Consider When Choosing ESD Flooring Or Mats
- How Large Is The EPA – Consider how large of an area will need to have ESD mats or floor tiles installed. Is it only the area around one application that needs an ESD floor mat, or will the entire room need kitting out?
- What Material You Require – There are varying materials that can be used to make your floor ESD proof, as mentioned above. It is important that you know the appropriate solution for your business. You can call our team on 023 8065 0065 for any help and advice you may need with this.
- What Properties The Floor Needs – Cleanrooms and workshops will often differ in environments. There will likely be different requirements needed for each environment. Knowing this will help you in the previous question. Consider slip resistance, sound absorption for example.
How Can I Prolong The Lifespan Of My ESD Flooring?
There are several ways in which you can improve the shelf life of your ESD floor tiles. These can include:
Regular Cleaning With The Right Products – Ensuring that your floor is clean will always be part of your regular maintenance routine. But you must ensure that you use the right cleaning products to avoid hampering the ESD qualities of your floor tiles.
We offer ESD cleaning solutions, which are like regular floor cleaning chemicals, but also include an anti-static additive. This will help to attract moisture from the surrounding environment and provide a layer of positively charged ions on top of your ESD floor tiles.
Using regular floor cleaning products will therefore increase your risk of static build up.
Ensure Everyone Has The Correct ESD Shoes – You would be surprised by the amount of static electricity that can be created by wearing common trainers or shoes with a rubber sole.
The best solution for this is to provide all employees and visitors to the EPA with either ESD footwear or ESD heel straps. Regular cleaning of the soles of your footwear is also important. Dirt can build up on the sole of the shoe and be transferred to the floor. This acts as a barrier that can prevent people from being grounded and result in static discharge.
What Is The Difference Between ESD & Antistatic?
You may have heard of both terms before when it comes to flooring. They are not just different names for the same product type. Anti-static flooring dissipates the static across the surface, meaning you will never have a build up large enough to get a shock. Anti-static flooring only means that the floor itself will mot generate static, not that it will dissipate any static that is built up from the users clothes for example.
ESD flooring solutions are more vigorous and will likely last you a longer time as they are grounded. With anti-static flooring you run the risk of the coating or chemical additive becoming less effective over time.
How Do I Test My ESD Flooring?
Should you need to test you ESD matting or floor tiles to ensure they maintain the ESD properties that you need for your EPA, head over to our ESD test equipment page. Here you will find a range of devices that can quickly tell you if any electrostatic potential is in the environment.
