Velostat, also known as Linqstat, is a packaging material made of a
polymeric
A polymer (; Greek '' poly-'', "many" + ''-mer'', "part")
is a substance or material consisting of very large molecules called macromolecules, composed of many repeating subunits. Due to their broad spectrum of properties, both synthetic an ...
foil (
polyolefin
A polyolefin is a type of polymer with the general formula (CH2CHR)n where R is an alkyl group. They are usually derived from a small set of simple olefins (alkenes). Dominant in a commercial sense are polyethylene and polypropylene. More speciali ...
s) impregnated with
carbon black
Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...
to make it
electrically conductive
Electrical resistivity (also called specific electrical resistance or volume resistivity) is a fundamental property of a material that measures how strongly it resists electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allow ...
. It is used for the protection of items or devices that are susceptible to damage from
electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two electrically charged objects caused by contact, an short circuit, electrical short or dielectric breakdown. A buildup of static electricity can be caused ...
. It was developed by Custom Materials, now part of
3M. Velostat is a U.S. registered trademark (4,964,564) of Desco Industries Inc. Desco Industries purchased the assets of the 3M Static Control business on January 2, 2015.
Due to its properties of changing its resistance with either flexing or pressure it has become popular with hobbyists for making inexpensive sensors for microcontroller experiments. One example of this is to make shoes which light up when the wearer takes a step. Since the
resistance in the circuit is reduced when pressure is applied, this reading can indicate when weight is applied or removed from the shoes.
See also
*
ESD materials
Electrostatic discharge materials (ESD materials) are plastics that reduce static electricity to protect against damage to electrostatic-sensitive devices (ESD) or to prevent the accidental ignition of flammable liquids or gases.
Materials
ESD ...
*
Force-sensing resistor (FSR)
References
External links
Example(in German)
Packaging materials
{{Polymer-stub