Video: ESD Vinyl Tile versus ESD Rubber Flooring: Which Prevents Static Charges Better?
August 1, 2022
Electrical resistance and body voltage do not correlate. What happens to a conductive floor when people on the floor do not wear heel straps? In spaces like call centers, dispatch operations, flight towers, server rooms, banks, networked offices and other end-user environments, people rarely, if ever, wear special static-protective footwear. In this video, we test the electrical resistance of conductive vinyl and conductive rubber. Both measure in the 10E5 range (under 10E6 is conductive). Next we take a static meter, and Dave scuffs his feet to see if either conductive floor will generate static. Conductive vinyl generates 10 X as much static as conductive rubber on people wearing regular (non-ESD) footwear. So if yours is an end-user space and there’s any chance that people won’t be wearing special footwear, choose a low-static-generating rubber floor.
For help or advice about choosing an ESD floor, call us on 617-923-2000, email [email protected], or visit our Guide to ESD Flooring Selection.
Hi, I’m Dave Long from StaticWorx.
What I’m going to show you right now is going to answer, I think, a question that a lot of people have in the backs of their minds. And that is what happens with a conductive floor, when I don’t wear heel straps, because in labs, tech spaces, end-user spaces like server rooms, people don’t wear these.
So what we’re going to start out with is we’re going to measure the electrical resistance of these two floors. This is a conductive vinyl floor. When I test this, I’m measuring a resistance of 3.4 x 10E5 from this probe to the groundable point. Now I’m going to move the probe to the conductive rubber floor and hit a reset button. And I’m measuring 2.0 x 10E5. So both of these floor tiles measure in the 10E5 range.
Now what I’m going to do, I’m just going to take this very simple static meter. And this needle is in the center, there’s no static electricity. And I’m going to scuff my feet. I’m going to lift my toes up off the floor and watch what happens when I do this. See that. Now I’m going to go to the rubber floor, I’m going to do the same thing. Big difference. Rubber conductive flooring does not generate as much body voltage as vinyl. In fact, it’s a factor of over 10.
So when you’re looking at flooring and you’re thinking about what’s going to happen when my people walk on the floor and they don’t have heel straps on, that’s the reason you want to gravitate towards a conductive rubber product instead of a conductive vinyl product. So resistance and body voltage don’t necessarily correlate. And I think that’s something you’ll read in many, many articles, but I’ve just shown you that today. Thank you.
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Learning Center Articles
- 7 Common Mistakes Selecting an ESD floor
- A Guide to ESD Flooring Selection
- Avoid Costly Failures: What You Need to Know When Specifying ESD Flooring
- Choosing ESD Flooring for:
- ESD Footwear: What Is It and When Is It Necessary?
- ESD Footwear for Electronics Manufacturing and Handling Applications
- Facility Managers’ Guide to Selecting ESD Flooring
- The Need for Due Diligence in Specifying Static-Free Flooring
- Standard of Care for Specifying Floors in Mission-Critical Spaces
- Understanding the Hidden Costs of ESD Flooring
- The Case Against Overly Conductive Flooring
- Conductive vs Dissipative
- Electrical Resistance
- Electrical Resistance in Mission-Critical Spaces
- Ensuring Accuracy: Why It’s Critical to Clean Floors and Probes Before ESD Testing
- ESD Standards and Test Methods
- Resistance, Resistivity, and Real World Application
- Walking Body Voltage
StaticWorx high-performance static-control floors protect electronic components, explosives, and high-speed computers from damage caused by static electricity. ESD flooring is part of a system. Choices should always be based on objective, researched evidence. When you partner with us, we look at all possible items that may need to integrate with the floor, and, focusing on your goals and objectives, help you find the right floor for your application.
