ESD clothing
In terms of personal protective equipment or PPE, there is a range of solutions to protect against risks in a trade. Against static electricity, work clothes for women and men with the ESD pictogram are mandatory. Electrostatic discharges can cause small discomfort in the hands to potential dangers such as an explosion for example.
What is static electricity?
Static electricity is an imbalance of electrical charge on the surface of a material. Static means fixed or stationary. In other words, it is therefore different from the energy of dynamic (moving) electricity which is in the form of electric currents.
Static electricity can be a nuisance or even a danger. Hair-raising energy can also damage electronic components and cause explosions. However, properly controlled and handled, it can also be a great asset to modern life.
What is electrostatic discharge?
Electrostatic discharge or “electrostatic discharge for ESD” is a rapid discharge of electric current between two objects with different charges and a different number of electrons. This exchange of electrons creates a large build-up of electromagnetic field, which results in electrostatic discharge.
ESD has many causes, but static electricity and electrostatic induction are the most common. Static electricity is often produced by tribocharging, while electrostatic induction results from the rearrangement of electrical charges as an object. Generally, tribocharging occurs when the surface of an object gains negative electrons and another object loses them to be positively charged. When opposing charged objects come into contact with each other, the electrons transfer energy and then separate, creating a type of contact electrification.
Why wear ESD clothing? - work clothes for men and women
ESD workwear provides protection against electrostatic discharge. In general, it is the users who are the first beneficiaries. However, in some sectors, especially industry, they guarantee the absence of risks that can be caused by a discharge of static electricity.
Whenever two surfaces come into contact and then separate, a static electrical charge is generated. In industry, many common processing operations generate static electricity. This is the case, for example, when liquids flow through a factory or powder particles come into contact with the surfaces of equipment. Thus, processes such as grinding, mixing and pneumatic transfer of powder, rapid flow of a liquid (such as when unloading the contents of a tank) often generate a lot of loads static.
How important is it to wear ESD clothing?
Static electricity in an industrial environment is mainly linked to the risk of fire and explosion due to the ignition of the flammable atmosphere by electrostatic discharges. Gases, vapours, powders and aerosols are common during processing operations and precautions are necessary to avoid their inadvertent ignition.
Precautions to be taken against fires and explosions are many and varied. There are many precautions you can take to control static electricity, but before choosing the most effective way to control it, it's prudent to understand how static charge is generated and accumulated, and produces "sparks" . Nevertheless, in absolute terms, the approach that is appropriate and not to be ignored in all industries is the wearing of clothing with the ESD pictogram.