PROCESSING
MECHANICAL PROCESSING
ESLON®-DC ESD plastic sheets can be processed with common methods. The basic material qualities will remain during processing, but some recommendations should be followed.
MACHINING
ESLON®-DC ESD sheets can be cut with either a band saw or a circular saw at normal speed:
High-speed machines achieve clean cutting edges.
Do not remove the protective film during machining to avoid scratching.
Use unrestricted or carbide-tipped saw blades for ESLON®-DC ESD PMMA and ESLON®-DC ESD Polycarbonate.
When drilling holes with twist drills or conical drills, work with slightly reduced speed to avoid hairline cracks.
FORMING AND BENDING
TIP: To find out the optimal processing, carry out initial trials with test strips in advance.
When bending ESLON®-DC ESD plastic sheets, use lower temperatures than usual to prevent the edges from turning white. Whitening may indicate overheating, however, the static dissipative performance of the sheet will not be affected.
ESLON®-DC ESD Standard sheets can be bent up to a 90° angle (ESLON®-DC ESD Hard Coat up to 70°). If an edge is bent to 90°, the surface resistance usually increases to approx. 108 – 109 Ω. The antistatic effect remains.
ESLON®-DC ESD Polycarbonate can be cold-folded in general, if the sheet is thin enough.
ESLON®-DC ESD PMMA should be annealed before processing to reduce internal stress and to achieve better dimensional stability of the material.
Only ESLON®-DC ESD Thermoform sheets are suitable for thermoforming (deep-drawing), bending and all other processes, which involve strong heating and stretching of the material.
BONDING
Die zu verklebenden Flächen entsprechend vorbehandeln:
1. Remove the coating of ESLON®-DC ESD Standard version with an acetone-soaked cloth; at ESLON®-DC ESD Hard Coat, the conductive coating must be removed mechanically. The width of the removed coating should be about 2-3 mm thicker than the sheet thickness of the counterpart.
2. Cover parts not to be bonded with adhesive tape or similar.
3. For a better adhesion, roughen the sheet surface and bevel the edges to be glued to increase the contact area.
A precision spraying device or fine brush is recommended for the application of the adhesive.
SUITABLE ADHESIVES
PVC: ESLON® Solvent Cement for PVC, Tetrahydrofuran, Cyclohexanone
PMMA: Solvent-based methylene chloride adhesives, 2-component polymer adhesives. Anneal PMMA before and after bonding.
Polycarbonate: Solvent-based methylene chloride adhesives. Subsequent baking necessary.
Smaller parts can be bonded with cyanoacrylate adhesives if necessary.