Submicron Resources For Conformal Coating Acrylic Epoxy Paraxylylene Parylene Resin Silicon Urethane.html

Welcome to the resources section of our site.

We'll be updating this section continually, to build up an invaluable source of information for businesses, students or anyone with a general interest.
It is in it's infancy, so please come back regularly or, if you need some information in a hurry, send us an e-mail and we'll do our best to help you.

Conformal Coating

Conformal coating is the process of depositing a material onto a device or component; to protect it from moisture, fungus, dust, corrosion, abrasion, and other stresses.
Common conformal coatings include silicone, acrylic, urethane, epoxy, and Parylene.

Coating Materials

Acrylic

Acrylic coatings are typically solvent based and are easily repaired. Traditionally they were low cost but have become less competitive with rising regulation requirements and safety concerns with solvent usage. They are tough, hard, and transparent - but lack stress relieving capability. Pot life is good since additional solvent can be added to keep the bath viscosity low and they exhibit low moisture absorption and short drying times when volatile solvents are used.

Epoxy

Epoxy coatings are very hard, usually opaque and are good at resisting the effects of moisture. They possess excellent chemical and abrasion resistance, but can cause stress on components during thermal extremes. Cure chemistries can sometimes require extra precaution for safe handling. Fluctuating temperatures can cause considerable drift in viscosities and difficulties in controlling cure times and coating thicknesses.

Urethane

Urethane coatings are tough, hard and exhibit excellent resistance to solvents. Along with excellent abrasion resistance and low moisture permeability, they offer good low temperature flexibility.
Their use is often prevented by their limited high-temperature capability and lack of repairability.

Paraxylylene (Parylene)

Parylene is a unique polymer conformal coating that conforms to virtually any shape including crevices, points, sharp edges, and flat, exposed internal surfaces. They are limited only by their higher costs due to their sensitivity to contaminants and the need for a vacuum application technique.

Silicone

Silicone coatings range from elastoplastic (tough, abrasion-resistant) to soft, elastomeric (stress-relieving) materials.
They can be heat or RTV cured and have a low toxicity. They have good moisture and humidity resistance, are useful over a wide temperature range and are versatile in processing, curing and repairability.

Encapsulation

Encapsulation is the process of encompassing an object within another. It is often seen as a method within Object Oriented Programming (OOP), but as you will see from other areas of the site, we deal with encapsulating physical components within a resin system.