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Introducing Fortify ESD-HT

The Fortify team is excited to announce the launch of our newest material: ESD High Temperature (ESD-HT). ESD-HT is the newest addition to Fortify’s Electronic Materials portfolio and will allow electronics manufacturers to quickly produce jigs, trays, and assembly aids quickly and efficiently, in applications that require rigorous ESD safety requirements that are necessary to protect sensitive electronic products. What sets ESD-HT apart from other conventional AM-based ESD materials is its ruggedness and temperature resistance at 284℃, allowing for use in demanding applications such as solder reflow.

Why ESD?

Ensuring an ESD-safe environment is critical to places like PCB manufacturing facilities where protecting parts from electrostatic discharge is vital to ensuring high yield and operational efficiency. In fact, an electrostatic discharge of as little as 30 volts can cause damage to electronic components at any point during the full production process and thereafter. For reference, the shock you feel from walking across carpet is about 3,000 volts. This costs the industry roughly $5 billion dollars in damaged components. With this in mind, the Fortify team saw an opportunity to create a photopolymer an ESD-safe material that could withstand high temperatures.

Fortify’s ESD-HT Resin

Our new ESD material, which is powered by Loctite, exhibits the highest heat deflection temperature available in additive manufacturing. By harnessing the power of CKM and Fluxprint, we are able to incorporate fibers for mechanical reinforcement as well as a precise amount of conductive filler into a high-temperature resin, resulting in an ESD material that does not compromise integrity. By harnessing the power of DLP 3D printing, we produce parts with a near-perfect surface finish that is non-marring, making this material and the parts it produces a suitable candidate for end-use enclosures, SMT nozzles, and autoclave material handling.

Parts made from Fortify’s ESD-HT photoresin are static dissipative allowing for a controlled release of static buildup due to a precisely tuned resistivity of 106 Ω/sq. Thanks to CKM, Fortify is able to maintain a homogenous distribution of conductive material throughout the build, ensuring consistency from part to part, build to build, and printer to printer.

As we stated above, Fortify ESD–HT best performs for tools, jigs, and fixtures that must be ESD safe. Other applications that require this level of resistivity include parts with explosion and fire hazards, electrostatic protected areas, or environments requiring no electrostatic attraction of dust or bioparticles since small voltages can be enough to destroy sensitive electrical components or ignite flammable vapor. ESD-HT enables manufacturers to produce these components, assembly aids, and fixtures on-demand leading to a reduction in lead times, increasing operational efficiency and slashing costs as compared to traditional processes.

Some applications where this will be key are:

  • SMT pick and place nozzles
  • Soldering fixture pallets (wave, reflow, selective)
  • PCB housings
  • IC test fixtures
  • PCB test fixtures
  • Magnetic data protection

Summary

We are just scratching the surface of what our high-HDT ESD-safe material can accomplish. In fact, we are launching a pilot program to help customers understand the high value of this resin to see how it can help them achieve greater productivity and product quality.

Learn more about our ESD pilot program here to see how you can order sample parts to have in your hand in a matter of days.