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I recently found the liquid tape LTB-400 made by Garnder Bender and was wondering if it's Ok to use it to cover IC chips for ESD protection? The circuit board is not placed in a housing, it's sold as a standalone unit.
I have used MG acrylic conformal coating before but was wondering if this will be an acceptable alternative method?

Few advantages of the liquid tape: 1-You can peel it off if you need to re-work or replace the onboard IC. 2-It has 1400v/mil dielectric protection. So a 10 mil layer adds up to 14k volts protection. It looks like it's a neutral cure. Any comments or suggestions is appreciated.

Thank you

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  • \$\begingroup\$ My only worry would be thermals.. If your IC is going to get hot the liquid tape would prevent it from escaping. \$\endgroup\$
    – Josh Ito
    Apr 12, 2016 at 1:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JoshIto, good point. However, in my case It won’t. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocky79
    Apr 12, 2016 at 3:51
  • \$\begingroup\$ Have you tried removing it and repair? Sounds "messy" at best. \$\endgroup\$
    – rdtsc
    Apr 12, 2016 at 13:45
  • \$\begingroup\$ @rdtsc yes I have, assuming you applied a thick enough coating 10mil+ then it's relatively simple to remove with little bit of effort and it comes out as a one uniform piece. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocky79
    Apr 12, 2016 at 16:14

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Gardner-Bender is reachable by email, check with them - but the material is not designed to provide useful ESD characteristics and is certainly not UL listed for that.

What about the usual epoxies used for that sort of thing? It's certainly more durable, will also slow oxidation and vibration, and I can tell you the dielectric strength (resistivity) is impressive.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I called them and they said yes, it is safe for use on electronics. I agree with you on epoxy but sometimes it's overkill when you just want extra protection on board components without going full blown with potting compound which is not serviceable. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocky79
    Apr 12, 2016 at 16:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ In regards to the dielectric strength I used MG chemical Poting epoxy 832B as an example and found it's dielectric strength is 472 V/mil. Liquid tape is 1400v/mil so if anything the liquid tape seems to have the more impressive spec. \$\endgroup\$
    – Rocky79
    Apr 12, 2016 at 16:34

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