A Closer Look at CCI's Corstat Conductive Corrugated Material

Eliminating ESD from your manufacturing and handling processes is vital to creating a static-safe environment for workers and sensitive electronic devices. Conductive Containers Inc.'s (CCI) Corstat technology was created to help you meet this goal.

Corstat, first manufactured in 1978, has become an ESD solution for some of the biggest names in the Electronics, Defense, Automotive, Space, and Medical industries. Let's take a closer look at how this innovative technology addresses the challenges of ESD.

ESD Consistent Shielding
During the manufacturing process, a conductive shielding layer is applied to both sides of the Corstat corrugated paperboard material. This shielding layer is put-down at a 10³ ohms to 10⁴ ohms resistivity. CCI indicates that it is the combination of the shielding layers and the "air gap" locked between the layers that provides excellent ESD shielding that is better than industry standards. Materials that do not have the "air gap" will not perform as well. This is true of impregnated materials and solid conductive plastics. CCI believes it is much easier to control a product's ESD/electrical consistency during the coating process than it is by using loaded fiber materials to make ESD products.

Protective Sealer
After shielding layer is created, CCI also applies a proprietary sealing layer over the Corstat coatings. This is done with the aim of making Corstat the most effective conductive corrugated material available. This second coating accounts for several very important factors:

• Controlled Discharge: Corstat raises the surface resistivity to 10⁴ to 10⁵ ohms to assure the material's surface will provide a slow enough drainage of static from a part that may have static build-up on it. This is done to protect delicate components from damage. The ESD standard for this function is 10⁴ up to 10¹⁰ ohms.
• Low Sulfur: This second coating also controls sulfur out-gassing. Regular brown corrugated paperboard is made using sulfur as a manufacturing agent, but sulfur residue can cause lead contamination and build up on sensitive parts and solder areas. According to CCI, their dissipative over coating controls/negates this affect and non-coated conductive corrugated does not offer this very important protection.
• Clean Surface: Regular brown kraft or coated but "unsealed" conductive corrugated can generate particulates in the manufacturing environment. These Foreign Objects & Debris (FOD) are a major problem in the electronics industry. Corstat's protective layer provides the end user with what CCI calls the "cleanest conductive corrugated on the market."
• Recyclable: Corstat is manufactured to be 100% Old Corrugated Containers (OCC) recyclable. OCC means that Corstat is the same as any brown box you might recycle at home. This is the largest family of recyclable corrugated items. The term "recyclable" can be misleading since it may simply mean that you can produce black roofing paper from it because you cannot remove the "black" color. The key is the OCC standard.

Physical Strength
CCI says that coated Corstat does not change the strength of the corrugated substrate, whereas other impregnated products might add enough carbon to the structure to weaken the physical properties of the corrugated material. Corstat is manufactured to provide stronger and longer lasting physical protection.

If you'd like to learn more about CCI's Corstat ESD packaging material line, or if you'd like to order a custom-designed ESD handling and shipping solution, please contact Q Source at 800-966-6020 or via email. Our helpful expert staff can help you find the best solution to meet your ESD protection needs.