Hi Dave,
We are thinking about using some interlocking flooring in our data center. The flooring is made with a recycled content vinyl material.
The salesman is telling us to use the static dissipative version. Which one - "static dissipative" or "static conductive" - do you recommend?
Ed from California
Hi Ed,
This is a critical question. The right choice for your application is not predicated on whether the floor is static dissipative or static conductive. The right choice involves knowing what happens when a person wearing ordinary everyday footwear walks on the floor. Any vinyl floor - static dissipative, static conductive anti-static - requires special static control footwear in order to prevent static. Unfortunately, all vinyl floors _ anti static etc -are static generators when they are frictioned by a person wearing regular footwear. The reason this happens is due to an effect called triboelectrification. In layman's terms, triboelectrification is the generation of static resulting from two materials rubbing together. From tribolectrification theory we know that vinyl is very antagonistic in interactions with most of the materials that are used to manufacture shoe soles. If you must employ a removable interlocking floor, you should install one with an EC rubber walking surface - not a vinyl one. Based on studies from groups like MIT Lincoln Labs we know that EC rubber will prevent static generation over 200 volts regardless of footwear. Static control vinyl will allow charges as high as 4000 volts. The right floor needs to prevent charges above 500 volts regardless of temperature or humidity or footwear!
Here is a link to an article from the Data Center Journal
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