Velostat, also known as Linqstat, is a packaging material made of a
polymeric foil (
polyolefin
A polyolefin is a type of polymer with the general formula (CH2CHR)n where R is an alkyl group. They are usually derived from a small set of simple olefins (alkenes). Dominant in a commercial sense are polyethylene and polypropylene. More speciali ...
s) impregnated with
carbon black
Carbon black (subtypes are acetylene black, channel black, furnace black, lamp black and thermal black) is a material produced by the incomplete combustion of coal and coal tar, vegetable matter, or petroleum products, including fuel oil, fluid ...
to make it
electrically conductive. It is used for the protection of items or devices that are susceptible to damage from
electrostatic discharge
Electrostatic discharge (ESD) is a sudden and momentary flow of electric current between two electrically charged objects caused by contact, an electrical short or dielectric breakdown. A buildup of static electricity can be caused by tribochar ...
. It was developed by Custom Materials, now part of
3M. Velostat is a U.S. registered trademark (4,964,564) of Desco Industries Inc. Desco Industries purchased the assets of the 3M Static Control business on January 2, 2015.
Due to its properties of changing its resistance with either flexing or pressure it has become popular with hobbyists for making inexpensive sensors for microcontroller experiments. One example of this is to make shoes which light up when the wearer takes a step. Since the
resistance in the circuit is reduced when pressure is applied, this reading can indicate when weight is applied or removed from the shoes.
See also
*
ESD materials
*
Force-sensing resistor (FSR)
References
External links
Example(in German)
Packaging materials
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