ESD Garments and Static Control
March 25, 2016
ESD Garments and Static Control
ESD garments, also commonly known as ESD smocks, ESD lab coats or ESD jackets, are designed to be antistatic, low tribocharging and offer protection from electrostatic fields generated by clothing on the user’s body. ESD garments are worn where ever static damage is a concern.
How Do ESD Garments Work?
ESD garments are constructed out of polyester or cotton (or a blend of both) that impregnated with a grid of woven conductive fibers. The grid creates a “Faraday Cage” effect around the body of the operator that shields charges generated from the operators clothing from damaging ESD sensitive devices.
ESD Garments as part of a complete ESD program.
ESD garments are a recommended addition to a program that already includes typical grounding measures, such as wrist straps and heel grounders. This is because of the potential hazard of the operator’s clothing. The ESD TR20.20-2008 states: “While a person may be grounded using a wrist strap or other grounding methods, that does not mean that insulative clothing
fabrics can dissipate a charge to that person’s skin and then to ground. Personnel clothing usually is electrically separate or isolated from the body.†“Groundable Static Control Garment System, Garments that are used to establish the primary ground path for a person shall provide a resistance of less than 35 megohms from the person to the groundable point of the garment.â€Â[ESD TR20.20-2008 section 5.3.13 Garments]
Any facility that mandates ESD garments demonstrates a commitment ESD protection.
Styles of ESD Garments
ESD Garments come in many shapes and sizes. Typical distinctions are collar type, sleeve terminations  and lengths. Collar options typically include lapel, v-neck or military style. Sleeve terminations are either a three snap cuff that adjusts for a proper fit or an ESD cuff that allows for hands free grounding. There are three lengths of jackets, waist length, 3/4ths and full length. Fabrics composition will vary by manufacture but there are typically a polyester fabric or a cotton polyester blend.