Plastic Fabrication Plant Protects Manufacturing Space with Groundworx SF Conductive ANSI 20.20 ESD Epoxy
DESCRIPTION
A plastics fabrication plant in Ohio had a newly renovated production floor that required a conductive ESD Anti-Static coating to protect against static electricity buildup, meeting ANSI 20.20 specifications while holding up to moderate foot and cart traffic. Given their requirements, they decided to go with the economical GroundWorx SF Conductive ESD Epoxy Coating.
There were (2) 880 sq’ sections of floor, one with bare concrete and one with an existing epoxy in good shape. To prepare the flooring surface for application, they attached an 80-grit sanding pad to a standard industrial floor buffer; this allowed them to properly rough up both the bare concrete and epoxied areas of the floor for application. While this method would usually not be sufficient for bare concrete when using a 100% solids epoxy coating, it is more than sufficient for a thin film epoxy coating like the GroundWorx SF.
Next came the application of the epoxy. When applying Groundworx SF, three thin coats although not required are recommended for best physical protection (mfg specifies at least a 2 coat application). They applied the three coats, at an average 450 square feet per gallon (350 sq’/gallon coat 1, 450 sq’/gallon coat 2 and 550 sq’/gallon coat 3). There was a drying time of 5-7 hours between each coats’ application.
Additionally, ESD coatings require a copper grounding strip to be installed for safe operation of an ESD flooring system to properly dissipate an electric charge. It is recommended 1 copper grounding strip be applied every 1,000 square feet of coated space. They installed two such strips for this 1760 square foot space, one directly to the concrete and one directly to the existing epoxy coating and then connected the other end to an earth ground. After installation they painted over the part of the strip affixed to the floor.
PROJECT DETAILS
Project Location: Newcomerstown, OH
Project Customer: Kurz-Kasch
Project Size: 1760’
PRODUCTS USED:
GroundWorx SF Conductive Epoxy: 12 Gallons of Pewter Color GroundWorx 2 Part Epoxy (satin sheen). Applied in 3 separate coats at average 450′ per gallon. Surface resistivity measures 2.5 x 104 – 3.5 x 107 ohms per square average and conforms to ANSI/ESD S20.20-2014 when tested according to ANSI/ESD STM7.1.
Copper Grounding Strips: 2 ESD Anti-Static Copper Grounding Strips (1 for every 1000 sq’ of project surface area) embedded in the epoxy and the other end connected to an earth ground.
Date: 2023
