Static Eliminators

Gainsborough can supply a range of in line static elimination equipment to reduce the static content of both product and film and so improving line efficiencies. Since its Inception in the packaging industry approximately seventy years ago, static control has become an integral part of the packaging processing. As machinery speeds have increased and materials have changed from paper to plastics and combination laminates and coatings, the need for static control has rapidly expanded.

As a result, the last ten years have seen the greatest increase in the use and development of static control products to enhance manufacturing processes.

Static is the excess or deficit of electrons on a material. A regular nonpolar atom has a nucleus with a positive charge and negatively charged electrons orbiting it. When one atom comes in close proximity to another, electrons from the orbit draw or tear away electrons, leaving one atom with an excess of electrons and the other with a deficit. This process, called ionization, leaves the atom with the excess carrying a negative charge, while the one with the deficit carries a positive charge.

Causes of packaging Static
Static in packaging manufacturing is caused by friction, separation, heat change and improper grounding. Packaging and material handling equipment often incorporate a combination of these to accomplish its function.

Friction
Static is most commonly caused by friction, the rubbing of two materials during packaging processing. When a plastic substrate in web form rubs over a steel roller, or when a pouch is shaped around a forming collar on a vertical form fill seal machine, for example, the plastic picks up the negative charge while the steel roller carries the positive charge. Because metal is such a good conductor, however, the positive charge is bled off. The charge on the plastic is not.

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