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Metals
corrode by reaction with corrosive gases in the atmosphere.
The most common, and most potent of these gases being
Sulfur and Chlorine. These gases are present everywhere
in our environment; Sulfur being produced from combusting
fossil fuels (oil, gas, coal, etc.), from decaying vegetation,
from ocean surfaces, from industrial manufacturing operations,
from wetlands, from paper and paperboard (Sulfur is the
paper crosslinking agent), etc. Studies measuring corrosive
gas levels were done inside a major electronic cleanroom
facility and even in their controlled environments significant
levels of corrosive gases were detected. If the gases
that cause corrosion are present everywhere, how can sensitive
metals be protected.
The Intercept Technology
uses a different and extremely effective, patented approach
to protecting metal surfaces from corrosion. The basis
of the Intercept Technology is that active corrosion sites
have been reacted into the polymer matrix. Basically these
active corrosion sites have created a torturous path for
corrosive gases trying to migrate through the plastic
material. This torturous path makes it statistically improbable
that any gas can migrate through the plastic without contacting
and reacting with one of these active corrosion sites.
The protection afforded by the technology is 10 years
of corrosion protection per mil of Intercept. To put this
in perspective, a normal piece of Polyethylene would allow
the same gases to penetrate through the bag within 24
hours.
The
Royal Mint of England was having problems protecting the
Silver ingots used in producing medallions and commemorative
coins. When Silver tarnishes the outer layer of Silver
is being consumed. To remove the tarnish prior to the
coining process, required in order to get a highly polished
surface, the Silver would have to be cleaned, removing
that outer layer of Silver. This is costly in terms of
labor and also in lost Silver. By protecting the ingots
in Intercept bags the Mint was able to eliminate the cleaning
stage and still maintain their high quality product. The
long life of the Intercept product allows them to re-use
the bags increasing their savings.
The
Guggenheim Museum of Art, located in New York City was
having problems protecting several sculptures going into
storage, including a series of Copper and Bronze boxes.
The problem was corrosion - atmospheric corrosion, as
well as interactions between the metals themselves. They
reviewed the Intercept Technology and determined using
Intercept film wrapped around their sculptures was the
best method to keep these valuable works of art free of
the ravages of corrosion. Their first order has been followed
up with others as they expand into their art collection
in storage. Art work in storage accounts for at least
90% of all of the artwork in the world, so protecting
art is a major market. The three things affecting most
artwork are, corrosive gases, bacteria, and Ozone. Intercept
reacts with and neutralizes the corrosive gases. Intercept
blocks out and reacts with Ozone. Intercept works equally
well in a basic as an acidic environment - making it ideal
for preserving books and papers which have levels of Sulfur.
Lastly, Intercept has a backbone of Copper. Copper retards
the reproduction of bacteria, allowing Intercept to act
as a type of passive bactericide.
The
Vincent Bach company is well known for its manufacturing
of high quality professional and student brass instruments.
We were called into their facility to help them solve
their severe in process corrosion problem. Each one of
their Saxophones, Trumpets and Trombones are cleaned at
several stages through manufacturing. At the final stage
the horns are cleaned then varnished. The problem is some
parts are extremely delicate and continued cleaning can
easily take the part out of tolerance. Four of the main
reasons for their severe corrosion problems are:
(1)
Use of high heat on the metal surface during soldering
(heat accelerates corrosion).
(2)
Use of the local gas supply for their soldering operation
(the gas is high in Sulfur).
(3)
Use of masking tape directly on surfaces needing protecting
(paper backed masking
tape
contains high levels of Sulfur, both in the rubber based
adhesive and the paper).
(4)
Use of corrugated boxes to hold parts in (all paper corrugate
contains Sulfur)
The
solution was to concentrate on keeping the Sulfur away
from the instruments. Changes could not be made easily
or inexpensively to items 1 or 2 above, so concentration
was placed on the later two. First, the amount of paper
backed tape used was reduced, replacing it with plastic
backed acrylic tapes for example. Then the storage or
transport boxes were lined with cushioning material to
hold the delicate saxophone keys. A flap that could be
easily lifted was made to allow for the keys to be completing
engulfed in the Intercept material. The final stage will
be making shrouds for the storage racks that the instruments
sit on waiting to be processed further. The results have
been a dramatic reduction in the cleaning needed.
Protecting
electronics requires that the material meet stringent
requirements; including cleanliness, no detectable non-volatile
residue, no detectable outgassing, ability to dissipate
a charge and be permanently static dissipative while not
being affected by time, temperature, solvents, humidity,
or moisture. Only Intercept, with its unique patented
technology can provide all of the above. Intercept also
provides shielding from static electricity pulses which
can be catastrophic to sensitive, non-hardened electronic
components and assemblies.
Intercept
combines these ESD properties with effective corrosion
protection. Metals used in electronics are sensitive to
corrosion. When metals corrode, they go from being conductive
to being insulative. When micro-corrosion occurs in an
electronic assembly, or on a chip, the effective conductive
path is reduced. This reduction in the conductive path
allows the remaining conductive metal to overheat and
potentially burn through, looking like an ESD event, but
in reality a corrosion event is what occurred. This mechanism
is a significant contributor to latent or field defects
in electronics. Only products made from the Intercept
technology can protect against both static electricity
and corrosion problems.
Companies
manufacturing products for use in the military are required
to keep spare parts in reserve for the entire length of
the program or system, not just the project. Therefore
long term protection and storage is critical for these
companies.
Recently,
TRW needed a replacement board for a system that they
had built in the late 80's and discovered that the ESD
protection for the boards had failed but equally, if not
more deviating was that the entire supply of boards were
corroded beyond use. TRW had to go into a special manufacturing
run to produce replacement boards which they then put
into Intercept plastic corrugate die cut holders and Static
Intercept bags. With Intercept they will have permanent
ESD protection as well as having 20 plus years of corrosion
protection. They also required that the material be clean,
non-outgassing and non-contaminating. Intercept has passed
the rigors of NASA qualifications on all these points.
Military
supply companies generally take a long time to change
packaging products, and they will normally only change
to a military approved packaging system. The first group
within Raytheon to take up the Intercept product had an
initial presentation at the beginning of March. Their
testing was completed by March 21 (test report available
upon request) and they started ordering product in April.
A turn around normally unheard of in military applications.
Initial
orders were for bubble bags, bubble film, flat bags, thermoformed
trays, and thermoformable sheeting. Secondary products
include 8 mil film for conformable coating applications
on boards and shrouds for covering and protecting machinery.
All of this happened quickly and without benefit of Intercept
having an official mil spec qualification. Raytheon found,
through their testing, that Intercept was the first product
that they had ever tested that met all of their requirements
- non-corrosive, non-outgassing (extremely critical for
sensitive components, LED and LCD, optics and boards),
clean room compatible, permanently antistatic (Intercept
being in the ideal ESD range of 106 to 108 Ohms/Sq), humidity
independent, and non-contaminating. In addition to ESD
concerns Raytheon was having a corrosion problem on some
boards, so having a material that actively prevented corrosion
was an added bonus. The use of Intercept at Raytheon has
since expanded into other divisions.
Delco
Electronics was the first company, outside of Lucent to
use the Intercept Technology. What Delco was most concerned
about was that the material be permanently anti-static,
non-corrosive, clean enough to be able to be used within
a clean room environment. Tests on the Intercept product
show that even without post cleaning Intercept is cleaner
than clean room paper. Delco has used Intercept bags for
over three years and has since specified Intercept products
across the board - including plastic corrugate totes,
formed totes, trays and bags.
ITT
became aware of the Intercept Technology at an EOS/ESD
symposium. They reviewed the technology and decided that
the properties and advantages that Intercept offered were
needed to better protect their products. They took samples
and submitted them to NASA for approval and qualification.
NASA tested the various Intercept products and has since
put Intercept on the approved list. Less than 6 months
after seeing the material ITT specified that only Intercept
packaging materials (flat, zipper and bubble bags) can
be used in their facility.
Lucent
developed and was the initial champions of this technology.
All of the product configurations that Intercept exists
in were developed to meet Lucent applications and needs.
Lucent uses a variety of products; injection molded Intercept
totes, thermoformed totes for assembly line use, thermoformed
totes for inter-plant shipments, thermoformed trays, bags,
shrouds, bubble material, plastic corrugate and film.
The applications and uses of Intercept at Lucent are diverse
and demanding. One part that is stored in an Intercept
tray is an underwater repeater unit. The cost to replace
a bad unit far outweighs the extra price of sure protection
that Intercept provides. Other applications include shrouds
for overseas and domestic shipments of switches and bags
for boards and components. Lucent stands behind, uses
and endorses the material that was developed to solve
their ESD and Corrosion needs.
There
are other companies and other unique applications for
products made form the Intercept Technology. Some include
film for conformable coating boards at Intel repair facilities,
bubble wrap for international shipments of stainless steel
computers (previously VCI's and desiccant had been used,
but with the temperature extremes of air transport the
cases were all arriving stained - Intercept, without desiccant,
solved the problem), and numerous other companies in test
or in early stages of ordering. The purpose was not to
list all of our current applications or customers, many
are left un-mentioned, but to show the material diversity.
For more information please call or write EMI.
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