Business Corner
STRATEGIES & ANALYSIS
BY PHIL PHILLIPS, PHD
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
PHILLIPS@CHEMARKCONSULTING.NET
Where inks & coatings intersect, Pt.II
The second
of a two-part
series exploring emerging
applications
for inks and
coatings.
Today, opportunities in the electromag- netic compatibility (EMC) industry are constrained by what is possible
based on cost and regulatory requirements.
As many electronic devices use less metal
in their enclosures in order to reduce costs,
the requirements for EMC increase since a
potential Faraday cage—a conductive enclosure completely surrounding the shielded
object—is lost.
Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is highly regulated by government agencies throughout the world. Thus aside from the actual performance of the devices and their impact on,
and from, other devices, additional EMC
requirements may be present because of the
regulations. While the goals are similar in the
various geographies around the globe, there
are differences that can impact the EMC
approaches used in manufacturing for different target geographies.
As a result, materials firms have long been
on the lookout for new materials that can
generate profits for them in the EMC sector.
Materials that have been tested or used in
this sector include conductive polymers,
TCOs and carbon materials.
Carbon nanotubes can be used for EMC
applications in small quantities and are not
inherently expensive. Their current high cost
is due to their newness. Carbon nanotubes,
or some of them anyway, are more conductive
than any metal and are easily made into diffusely dispersed suspensions. Carbon nan-otube coatings or filled polymers can offer an
interpenetrating conductive network that
produces a Faraday cage with minimal quantities of material.
Conductive polymers like PEDOT:PSS have
proved suitable for some EMC applications.
However, they have not come down in price as
rapidly as hoped. Still, they are flexible and
often transparent, especially in thin layers,
and offer the likelihood of low cost within the
next several years. All of these features are
attractive in certain EMC applications.
Other nanomaterials used for EMC coatings include metals, mostly silver. The small
Source: Chemark Consulting
