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ESD Carpet Tile

Glossary Term

A modular floor tile comprised of conductive/dissipative carpet and a conductive/dissipative backing, used to control the accumulation of static electricity on people, chairs and tables.

To meet the requirements of industry standard ANSI/ESD S20.20, ESD carpet tiles must have an electrical resistance ≤ 1.0 x 10E9 ohms and generate ≤ 100 V static charges on people walking on the floor.

Designed to prevent static generation and provide an electrical path to ground, ESD carpet dissipates unwanted static charges in applications where electronics are stored, manufactured, handled or used.

ESD carpet tile is usually manufactured using conductive fibers woven into the carpet face. ESD-grade flooring materials remain conductive/dissipative at any relative humidity level.

Not to be confused with computer grade or low kV carpet materials.

How ESD Carpet Tile Works

Conductive fibers sweep static from shoe soles and transport charges to the underlying ground plane (conductive adhesive or underlayment); charges move across the ground plane to copper strips attached to an outlet or other type of earth ground.

Learn more about ShadowFX static-dissipative carpet tile

Walking Body Voltage

The static charge, in volts, generated by a person walking across the floor. Static charges that accumulate on the body discharge to the first object the person touches, potentially damaging or disrupting sensitive electronics. Learn about how ESD flooring works

Voltage Suppression

Voltage suppression occurs when an ESD-protective material, such as a static-dissipative table covering, suppresses static charges rather than dissipating charges to ground. For instance, an ESD laminate with a buried conductive layer will suppress the electrostatic field from a charged object, but is incapable of discharging static even when the charged object touches its surface.

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)

Gases emitted from certain solids or liquids, including a variety of chemicals, which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. Concentrations are consistently higher indoors than outdoors: often up to ten times higher. Flooring should always be tested for VOC content by independent certification organizations like FloorScore and GreenGuard.

Triboelectric Series

A list of common materials, such as leather, nylon, wool, and paper, showing whether a material tends to give up or take on electrons when in frictional contact with other materials on the list. Those that give up electrons become positively charged, and materials that accept electrons become negatively charged. In the ESD industry, the

Triboelectric Charging

Whenever two objects with different electrical characteristics make contact and separate, the molecules in the two materials interact, forming an electrical bond. Separating the materials creates friction. This frictional force draws electrons away from one material and deposits an excess of electrons on the other, leaving a positive or negative electrical charge on both materials.

Total Cost of Ownership

The real cost of a product, encompassing the cost of the material, along with installation, maintenance, anticipated repairs and necessary monitoring. These hidden costs are often overlooked or ignored in the initial cost analysis, but they add up and over time can outpace the expense of owning a floor with a higher material cost. For

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