Static Elimination

Static Electricity is a non-moving charge that can occur on insulating materials. Insulators have an imbalance between the number of electrons and protons present in each atom and therefore tend to either lose electrons or gain electrons from another surface. If they lose electrons then they effectively have gained a positive charge, if they gain electrons they gain a negative charge.

Charging takes place when materials separate from each other and is referred to as charge separation. Strictly speaking friction is not required to generate static. For example, insulators that are separated perpendicularly from each other i.e. no friction occurs, can still experience charge separation.

Static is caused by the interaction between two surfaces at a molecular level. The Triboelectric series lists materials in order of likelihood of charging positively or negatively although most insulators can be charged to any polarity depending on what material they are in contact with i.e. a material that sits in the negative Triboelectric scale may charge positively if contacted by another material that sits further negatively down the series.

Main reasons to control Static electricity :
– Contamination – Above around 3KV particles will be attracted to the web. 
– Process problems – High levels of static can cause mis-feeds and stacking issues. 
– Ignition risk – Very high levels of static can cause ESD ( Electrostatic discharge ). 
– Operator discomfort.
– Electronic device safety – ESD can cause failure in sensitive electronic circuitry.