Q1. What’s the minimum polyimide film thickness?
A1. Our thinnest standard material is 1mil (0.025mm).  We can produce thinner, but there would be minimum order quantities associated.

Q2. Could we provide free samples of PIT1A?
A2. As you can imagine, CAPLINQ receives many, many requests for “free samples”.  The manual entries, paperwork and ultimately costs that resulted from working outside our current workflow system (ensuring correct ship-to addresses, price quotes, samples lists, follow-up, etc.) was not in line with the low-cost model that we try to bring to our customers.  As such, we have done away with minimum order quantities and implemented a way to order single units instead of shipping free samples.

Q3. What is the heat resistance? We require it above 200C for 1-2 hours.
A3. The temperature resistance depends on the application.  The polyimide film itself can withstand temperatures of 450 °F (~230 °C) and for short periods, can withstand temperatures as high as 900 °F (~480 °C).  The weak point is the adhesive system.  The silicone adhesive (PIT1S-Series) can maintain adhesion above 200C, as well as short (2-3 minutes) periods at 260C.  Above this temperature, adhesion drops off quickly.  Acrylic-adhesives (PIT1A-Series) have a lower temperature resistance, but at lower temperatures (Room temperature) have a higher adhesion than silicones.  Depending on the application (namely masking), it is quite reasonable that the PIT1S could withstand 200C for 2 hours.

Q4. Under a certain degree of temperature an pressure, would the glue be coming out from the edge?
A4.  It is imaginable that under pressure at high temperature that the adhesive layer is compressed.  Whether and how far it would come out from under the polyimide backing, we have no data for.

Q5. What is the lowest thickness that can be produced, and will the thickness influence its heat resistance ability?
A5. I need to check with production what the minimum thickness is, but no, heat resistance is independent of the film thickness.

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“You sure can!” is the reply I got recently from a process engineer.  Upon further discussion, he gave me some tips that I have included here as a guidelines.  Hopefully they serve others as well as they have served me.

It turns out that the price of the LINQSTAT volume conductive film are heavily influenced by two specific attributes of the roll and there is one attribute that has marginal effect on the product cost.  These three elements are as follows:

1. The thickness of the roll
2. The length of the roll and
3. The width of the roll (ie. the slitting of the rolls)

LINQSTAT Roll Thickness
The most popular thickness for the rolls of volume conductive film is 4mil (102µm), but this normally makes it only the most readily available, not necessarily the cheapest.  2 mil (50µm) and 3mil (76µm) film thicknesses are also possible, and since the product (and the shipping costs) are dependent on the amount of material used, 2mil and 3mil will be cheaper than the 4 mil.

Though you will need to contact a sales representative for an actual quotation, a close approximation is that the 3mil thick LINQSTAT will be about 10% cheaper than the 4mil thick version and the 2 mil is about 15% cheaper than the 4mil thick version.

Yes, some of the properties will vary depending on the thickness used, but if you can test a thinner version and it works for you, then start enjoying the savings.

LINQSTAT Roll Length
The loading and unloading of the rolls is a manual process, but once the machine is running, there are very few extra costs associated and the discounts that CAPLINQ gets from this can be passed on diretcly to the customer.

Assuming you need to have 150′ (46m) lengths, you will pay a premium to have them delivered in such (relatively) short lengths.  In widths wider than a couple inches, these rolls can also be supplied in lengths up to 1500′ (457m).  Granted that these lengths can be more cumbersome to handle, but if the operators and machines can handle it, why not take the savings.

To give you an idea, (though again you should contact a sales representative for an official quotation), a 1500′ roll is about 35% cheaper than a 150′ roll of the same product.  Elements to consider for this are the loading and unloading of the rolls, the individual cores needed for each roll (and end caps) and individual packaging of the rolls in static-free bags.

Example for rolls of 9″ wide (229mm) x 0.004″ (102µm) thick Linqstat

To give you a better idea of what we’re talking about let me give you an example to show you the differences:

Of course, if 1500′ is not possible, you can go shorter (750′, 500′ or even 250′) and there will be a little savings in each roll length longer than the original 150′.

LINQSTAT Roll Width (ie. the slitting of the rolls)
As it turns out, there is very little effect on pricing if the roll widths are longer or shorter.  The slitting time is relatively short and does not play a large roll in determining the final product price.

Visit the CAPLINQ LINQSTAT VCF Volume Conductive Film website today to find out more, or contact us for more information.

* 3M is a registered trademark of 3M Corporation. Velostat is a trademark of 3M Corporation.
Neither is affiliated with this site.

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