Devices for measuring electrostatic generation and dissipation on the surfaces of polymeric materials

Dynamic electrostatic generation and dissipation on polymer surfaces are of great importance for materials such as yarns and films. To support fundamental research in this area, innovative devices and experimental techniques that can lead to a better understanding of these phenomena are of obvious academic and industrial interest. This paper reports the development of devices for testing the electrostatic generation/dissipation properties of polymer surfaces. These devices include a tester for assessing moving yarns, a high-resistance system to measure the yarn's linear resistance, a tester for evaluating stationary fabrics or films while rubbing against a moving surface and a contact charge tester for investigating charge generated by contacting of two surfaces. These devices enable the study of the influences of relative moving speed, yarn tension, electrostatic charge properties of yarns, as well as contact pressure, rubbing speed, number of rubbings or contacts on the static charge properties of films.

Keywords

• electrostatics,
• static charge generation,
• static charge dissipation,
• triboelectrification,
• static charge measurement,
• polymer surface state