What are Conductive Elastomers
Conductive elastomer is a composite material that combines silicone or fluorosilicone rubber and conductive particles. Which means conductive elastomers both have flexibility and conductivity. Conductive elastomer is the material of conductive gasket and widely used in electromagnetic interference(EMI) shielding and radio frequency interference (RFI) shielding.
Characteristics of Conductive Elastomer
Because of the diversity of conductive elastomer raw material.GALLOP INNOTEK Conductive elastomers have many good characteristics.
High Flexibility: We all know silicone rubber is a flexible material. Obviously, GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers have this characteristic too. Conductive elastomers can be stretched repeatedly and back to original shape.
Because of its high flexibility, conductive elastomers commonly used to produce fabric with strain sensing components. If you are doing the business of flexible electronic fabrics, GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomer is a good choice.
In addition, the compression deformation resistance of the conductive elastomer is also good. They can be kept in use for many years without deformation.
Strong Conductivity: Another important characteristic or advantage of GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers is the strong conductivity. Because the conductive particles are metal or carbon-based materials, which means they have very good conductivity.
Strong conductivity means it has the functions of static dissipative, EMI shielding and RFI shielding.
Good Temperature Resistance: GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers also have good temperature resistance, which means they have good adaptability to different environments. Typically, conductive elastomers can withstand temperatures ranging from -55 °C to 160 °C.
No matter how harsh the environment is, conductive elastomers can ensure 110dB shielding ability. If your electronic devices are used in some special temperature environments, GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers can stay stable.
Multiple Designs: Multiple design is also a big highlight of GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers. Multiple design is reflected in two aspects, shape diversity and conductive particle diversity.
First, the shape diversity. Both extruded and custom-molded methods can be used to process conductive elastomers. Conductive elastomers can be directly molded into specific shapes, such as cable connectors or complex gaskets. Shape diversity also means diversity of mold selection; there are hundreds of molds for you to choose from.
On the other hand, there are many types of conductive particles that can be added to GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers. Carbon-based conductive particles like carbon black, graphene, carbon nanotubes, or metallizations like pure silver, silver-plated aluminum, Nickel-plated graphite.
Conductive particles are evenly distributed in silicone rubber, which can help the GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers maintain stable physical performance and electrical properties.
- High shielding effectiveness of up to 100 dB at 10 GHz with properly designed enclosures
- Environmental sealing up to IP68
- Wide operating temperature range from -55ºC to +160ºC, suitable for extreme conditions and specialized applications.
- Low outgassing for sensitive environments.
- Cost-effective solution
- High shielding effectiveness of up to 100 dB at 10 GHz with properly designed enclosures.
- Environmental sealing up to IP68.
- Wide operating temperature range from -55ºC to +160ºC, suitable for extreme conditions and specialized applications.
- Low outgassing for sensitive environments.
- Cost-effective solution
- Ultra-low electrical resistance and superior shielding effectiveness
- The sealing property can be top rated as IP68
- Wide working temperature range
- Excellent physical properties
- Endurable and good resilience
- Low VOC and cost effective solutions
- Available in fluoro-silicone resin options
- Ultra-low electrical resistance and superior shielding effectiveness
- The sealing property can be top rated as IP68
- Wide working temperature range
- Excellent physical properties
- Endurable and good resilience
- Cost-saving solutions
Types of Conductive Elastomer
GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers can be classified into many types according to different conductive particles. The content of conductive particles determines the strength of conductivity and flexibility.
Carbon-based
Carbon Black
Typically, Carbon black is combined with solution-type styrene-butadiene rubber(S-SBR) to form the conductive elastomer. Using carbon black as the conductive particle, GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomer can achieve a conductivity of 40 S/m and a tensile strength of 10 MPa. Also, the ductility can be increased to 200%.
Compared with other types of conductive particles, carbon black’s conductivity is not outstanding, but it also means the cost won’t be high. If you do not have strict requirements about conductivity, carbon black may be a suitable choice.
Graphene
The second type of carbon-based GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomer is graphene. Besides its high conductivity, it is also thermally conductive. Thermal conductivity means it can prevent the accumulation of static electricity and reduce internal heat. But the cost is higher.
Carbon Nanotubes(CNT)
The GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomer, made from carbon nanotubes (CNT), is a popular material now. CNT exhibits shape memory properties under dual stimulation of electricity and near-infrared (NIR) light. The most significant advantage is the self-healing ability, which can extend the service life of the material.
CNT conductive elastomers have strong strain sensitivity. It can detect human movement and is widely used in the production of wearable electronic devices. Although the cost of CNT is very high, it can really help you reach a bigger market.
Pure Silver
Pure silver is a commonly used conductive particle in conductive elastomer. The conductivity is strong, and the EMI shielding ability is great. Also, other performances are very outstanding. However, the price of pure silver is high and has been gradually replaced by silver-plated materials to reduce costs.
Nickel-plated Graphite
Nickel-plated graphite GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomer is a combination of nickel and graphite. The biggest advantage is the light weight and high quality. Nickel-plated graphite can be easily processed by the extrusion or molding method.
It also possesses flame-retardant properties and can achieve the UL94 V-0 grade. Nickel-plated graphite has a higher cost-performance than pure silver. It is a widely used material in both commercial and military applications.
Silver-plated Aluminum
Silver-plated aluminum is also widely used in applications such as commercial and military settings.
GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomer made from silver-plated aluminum is hard to form galvanic corrosion. Which means it can be used in harsh environments and keep a good performance.
The appearance of silver-plated aluminum is similar to pure silver, while the cost is lower. If you have the need for the silver appearance, then silver-plated aluminum is an affordable selection.
Applications of Conductive Elastomer
Because of the great characteristics of GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers. The application fields are very broad.
Consumer Electronics
Consumer electronics occupied a big market of conductive elastomers. You can use GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers in keyboards, touch sensors and other computer devices production. Smartwatch, health monitoring equipment are also a popular direction.
Medical Field
GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers also can be used to produce medical products. The flexibility of CNT conductive elastomers can be used to produce wearable biosensors, thus reducing the difficulty of clinical diagnosis greatly.
Also, the GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers can perfectly take into account biological tissue to produce sensors implanted in humans or animals.
Auto Parts
Almost every sensor in auto needs flexible circuits that are conductive elastomers.Such as the temperature sensor, pressure sensor, position sensor, etc. GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers can stay a good transmission performance and health service life.
Energy Storage
The use of GALLOP INNOTEK conductive elastomers in energy storage products is also a blue ocean. On the one hand, conductive elastomers with carbon-based conductive particles can be used to produce flexible lithium-ion batteries.
On the other hand, conductive elastomers can help supercapacitors fast charging and discharging. The strong cycling stability is very suitable for flexible supercapacitor production.
Conductive Elastomer Gasket Pre-Selector
Create a first-pass material direction from environment, shielding and installation priorities.
Planning/reference estimate: Shielding effectiveness belongs to the complete enclosure/joint system. Final selection requires drawings, compression data and EMC/environmental testing.
