Understand Antistatic treated sandpapers
Sanding wood inevitably creates dust, which hinders proper operation and reduces the lifetime of belts. They have to be changed more often, leading to a non-recoverable loss of operator and machine time.
How can this be remedied? Quite simply by controlling the effects of static electricity and using antistatic solutions !
What is static electricity and the role of antistatic solutions in the sanding process ?
In rest condition...
When the abrasive sanding belt is not in use, the sanding belt is in a state of equilibrium. In the atoms that make it up, the positive charge of the nucleus is equal to the negative charges of the electrons that revolve around it: the charge is said to be «neutral».
During sanding
During sanding the friction generated by sanding causes movement in the electrons and this creates an imbalance, which charges the surface of the materials and produces static electricity…
The role of antistatic solution
An antistatic paper belt has been treated to make it conductive : it is the road that will make it possible to bring the charge to the ground.
The static charge can therefore be discharged to the ground, reestablishing the balance. In this case, the paper does not attract the dust which can be removed by the extractor on the machine.
Result: the paper is not clogged up, so the belt does not need to be changed so often, and the working environment is cleaner and healthier.
What does "antistatic solution" exactly mean in the abrasive business ?
There are different ways to get an antistatic abrasive:
1) Incorporate a conductive agent in the resin
It consists in incorporating carbon black in the resin during the process in the maker. This is perfectly possible on a Multi B (Green Line) paper base.
2) Take a paper with an antistatic treatment
Nodust B and Stat B (Brown Line) backings have an antistatic impregnation in the core, an asset to keep a long-lasting conductivity- not subjected to any back side wear during the sanding.
3) Choose a ready-to-use pre-coated carbon black black backing
The treatment is applied during the paper production on the side which will receive the future make coat. Our ready-to-use Black B (Brown Line) enables to keep your maker clean and enjoy the distinctive feature of carbon black treatment : High efficiency, no water sensistivity and long-lasting solution (in sandwich between the make coat and the paper).
This pre-treatment can be plain or include a printing featuring a Faraday cage. This is interesting from a marketing point of view if combined with a transparent resin.
What are the best measurement practices ?
An efficient antistatic abrasive belt has a surface resistivity which should range between 104 to 109 Ω/sq. A purist, would call them even dissipative belts.
The lower the surface resistivity figure, the more efficient is the belt. Thus, an abrasive with 104 Ω/sq is a highway : it will lead the charge to the ground with very little resistance.
