The authors of a recent article in InCompliance Magazine titled Early Life Failure of
Dissipative Workstation Mats, have confirmed that Desco Europe's Statfree™ T2 was the top performing worksurface mat
(Mat ID#4 in the article) in their study. To read the rest of the article click HERE.
Top 3 Benefits of Statfree™ T2 Working Surface Matting:
1. Superior wear, heat and chemical resistance.
2. Withstands abrasion, stretching and tearing.
3. Ultraviolet (UV) additives stabalise colour retention to ensure ESD performance over time
and
eliminate surface layer deterioration.
Part of any good ESD Control Programme is periodic verification of the specs of products being used for the ESD Control
Plan. The most obvious example of periodic testing is when operators test their foot grounders or wrist straps before entering
an ESD Protected Area. Plexus Manufacturing Solutions in Neenah, WI noticed during periodic verification of their
workstation mats, that the mats were drifting out of spec and wanted to determine what was causing the mats to fail. Through
their in house tests, they concluded that:
• A solid ESD control programme including compliance verification periodic testing with data collection provides
valuable and useful information.
• Factory fluorescent lighting, likely from ultraviolet (UV) radiation, can have a measurable effect on the electrical
properties of ESD dissipative mats over time.
• Different mats tolerate or resist the effects of factory fluorescent lighting.
• Since this experiment did not take into account lot to lot variation at the supplier for each mat P/N, future mats
purchased will require lot traceability information to be stamped on the bottom of the roll, every 0.9m minimum.
• The ESD Association technical report ESD TR4.0-01-02 Worksurfaces and Grounding Survey should consider
adding ultraviolet light resistance as a property to consider in the Worksurface Selection Guide.
Desco Europe's Statfree™ T2 mats include Ultraviolet (UV) stabiliser additives in the mat formula to stabilise colour
retention, ensure ESD performance over time and eliminate surface layer deterioration resulting in cracking when the product
is flexed. Additionally, we mark lot traceability information on the bottom of the roll every 0.9m to provide tracking
information for lifespan of the product and to ensure quality control.