SJM EUROSTAT

Press Release
October 23, 2002

Revolutionary Static Dissipative Bags Prevent Oxidation of PCB's for up to 30 years

Packaging and materials handling expert SJM Eurostat (U.K.) Ltd. will be unveiling its unprecedented new range of Static Intercept bags, the only static dissipative bags in the industry to combine effective ESD and corrosion protection for sensitive PCBs and assemblies.

Bell Labs developed a process that reacts and permanently bonds a highly reactive copper into a polymer, allowing the Intercept Technology plastics to act as a solid sheet of high surface area, highly reactive sheet of copper. The revolutionary bags and wraps act as a mini-environmental control chamber, absorbing and permanently neutralizing corrosive gases, providing a guard from oxidation and solderability problems while giving long-term non-contaminating protection from the damage of rust and corrosion in virtually any typical storage environment, for up to 30 years.

The efficiency of the bags lies in the reactive barrier system, allowing the copper backbone to act as both a preferential corrosion site where the Intercept reacts with and neutralizes all of the trapped air inside the bag, as well as providing an impervious barrier to gases trying to enter the bag from the outside environment. In intimate contact the Static Intercept, due to its electrical nature, can also act as a sacrificial anode protecting galvanic couples.

The result is a antistatic bag in the ideal ESD range, which provides a corrosion and contamination-free environment for ESD-sensitive assemblies and whose ESD properties are completely unaffected by humidity, typical storage temperatures, moisture or the most severe factor - ime.

The bags, approved by NASA for space flight, are a welcome advance form barrier film packaging, desiccants and Vapor Corrosion Inhibitors (VCIs). Static Intercept resin bags were approved by the US Army at Picatinny as a replacement for foil barrier bags. Foil bags are not recyclable and are only effective as long as no pinholes or compromised seals. Desiccants are expensive, dirty and can re-release the moisture back into a package as the temperature changes during the day, effectively causing a pumping action. Finally, VCIs use chemicals that coat and possibly contaminate the surfaces and some VCIs can actually accelerate corrosion.

Also, unlike moisture barrier bags, the Static Intercept^® packaging does not need to be completely airtight to protect the component. Quick pack designs for export packaging, using overlapping seams and tape can replace hours of sealing foil bags with a quick 2-minute operation. Also, even if punctured, Intercept will still continue to offer protection.

In addition, Static Intercept bags are permanently static dissipative, non-tribo-charging, and constructed as cleanroom safe, completely non-outgassing and have a surface resistivity of 10^6-7 Ohms/sq. Intercept can be made to be cleaner than cleanroom nylon, making it ideal for aerospace.

Unlike shielding bags and pink poly bags, Static Intercept^® bags do not degrade with time so they are completely reusable, offering significant savings on static control budgets. In addition, the pure SI bags are recyclable in the colored polyethylene recycle stream, and meet the stringent German recycling laws.  Plus, anaerobic landfills, rich in corrosive gases, will accelerate SI bag polymeric breakdown.