The authoritative public forum
  for Metal Finishing since 1989
-----

Conductive pigment

I want to know what cost effective conductive pigment to be used with silicon rubber to make the rubber conductive. After adding the pigment the conductive resistance to be below 5 ohms and the Hardness of the rubber should not increase more than 30 shore. And is there any pigment by adding which the shore hardness of the silicon rubber can ba altered. I need achieve 20 shore hardness after adding the pigment.

GRS Nagaraju
- Bangalore, Karnataka, India
2003

The only pigment that I know of that is remotely conductive is carbon black and I seriously doubt if you could add enough of anything to make rubber conductive-even copper dust.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

I did not think that it was possible, but I saw a adv for a tumbler that said that it used conductive rubber wheels to dissipate the static charge that builds up. I have no idea of how they managed that. I am sure that it would also have to do with the amount of electricity that it had to transfer.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
2003

---

2003

Do some research into static control mats. The least expensive, with highest resistance 10⁹ to 10¹¹ ohms, contain chemical additives (such as amines, quaternary ammonium compounds, phosphate esters and polyethylene glycol ester) which increase the surface conductivity. The most effective contain an embedded silver filament which leads to a grounding strap.

I agree with Mr. Watts, pigments will not achieve the desired conductivity. Try a) adding graphite or metal fibers or b) impregnating molten rubber into steel or copper wool.

Ken Vlach [deceased]
- Goleta, California
Finishing.com honored Ken for his countless carefully researched responses. He passed away May 14, 2015.
Rest in peace, Ken. Thank you for your hard work which the finishing world, and we at finishing.com, continue to benefit from.

You should try carbon fibres or Silver powder , if you wish to achieve both the parameters. Carbon will not help it will increase the hardness .

Shankar T.K
Conductive Materials - New Delhi, India
2004

You can try out different conductive pigments like Minatec pearl pigment from Merck India Ltd. which gives conductivity without increasing hardness to such a extent.

Nitin Gala
- Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
2007

I wanted to know about conductive pigments used in Electronic Lumnicient. I am interested over the product because it can produce cool light at very lesser current.

M.Karthikeyan
product designer - Bangalore, INDIA
2007