Conductive materials for ESD applications: an overview

Plastic resins, because of their low cost, versatility and ease of use, play an important role in many static control applications including packaging and work surfaces. A wide range of properties may be realized with plastics depending on the selection of the resin, filler or additive. This paper seeks to explain how these properties come about based on the chemical structure of the polymers. It also reviews the various way of imparting electrical conductivity on plastic resins through the use of antistatic agents, conductive fillers and intrinsically conductive polymers.