MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. — Thermoformers serving telecommunications, computer or electronic instrumentation industries now have another option when it comes to shielding for electromagnetic and radio-frequency interference.
Spraylat Corp., a manufacturer of engineered industrial coatings headquartered in Mount Vernon, has a new line of flexible conductive coatings that can be thermoformed with the part.
Bruce K. Bachman, business development manager for conductive coatings, said the process involves spraying a copper or silver shielding material onto a thin, flexible polymer sheet, which is laid over the material to be thermoformed. The coating is bonded to and formed along with the part.
Traditional coatings have zero elongation properties, Bachman said, which means that a secondary spray operation was the only way for formers to apply shielding. Because the material is flexible, it flows with the draw down. However, there are limits to the depth of the draw down.
In eliminating the secondary operation of spray-shielding parts, certain costs connected with that process are eliminated. For example, since no mask is needed, a lead time of as much as eight weeks to build a mask is eliminated. The coatings are water-based and strippable, making it easy to recycle the plastic by simply peeling off the coating.
Bachman said the process is suitable for most thermoforming applications, however there are certain thermoplastic materials that are not good candidates.
Spraylat has sales and distribution centers in Chicago, Los Angeles and Gainesville, Texas.