Electrical Engineering Asked by Matthew T Watson on February 20, 2021
I have little clearance between my PCB and the air holes of its plastic housing, meaning an air discharge is able to conduct to the PCB through the hole. If I make the housing out of an ESD dissipative material will the spark discharge to this first as the ESD gun approaches, or will the housing’s resistance be too high?
I am considering dissipative plastics such as ABS-ESD7
I did some testing with a few materials and an ESD gun, shown here is for conductive foam. (I also did conductive plastic, not shown)
The spark would find the nearest "conductive material". An interesting result was if a conductive aluminum plate was placed next conductive plastic, the spark actually preferred the plastic (the were almost identical heights.)
At the end of the day how conductive a material is doesn't matter much to a kV voltage, because once you start a plasma and breakdown occurs everything get's more conductive.
The conductive ABS-ESD7 has a volume resistivity of at least 10^4 Ω (highest being 10^9 Ω)
I have an ESD bench that has 10^9 Ω and sparks dissipate into that just fine, so at the end of the day I think you'll be fine. Any ESD events should dissipate in the plastic (as long as it is connected to a ground to return the transient voltage to the source).
Oh, and remember that air is Giga to terra ohms so to a kV source anything looks conductive to a source like that.
Correct answer by Voltage Spike on February 20, 2021
Air holes will be problematic being the lowest capacitance and thus highest conductance to transient voltage breakdown. A Mylar shield that still permits air flow would be best to any exposed conductors.
I recall tiny gaps around LED indicators on recessed 5mm LEDs with 10 mm high lens on early 80’s keyboards would often fail ESD tests with a Schaefer ESD gun @ 10kV travelling 10mm or so.
Answered by Tony Stewart Sunnyskyguy EE75 on February 20, 2021
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