Reducing Electric Static Charge Generated From Epoxy Flooring Materials

The aim of the present work is to test proposed composites consisting of epoxy filled by metallic particles such as iron, brass and copper. The combination of the proposed materials can produce composites of minimum electric charge that can be used as flooring tiles. Experiments were carried out to measure the electric static charge and friction coefficient under varying load. It was found that, epoxy free of filling materials generated the highest negative voltage when sliding against rubber, then drastically decreased with increasing the positive voltage generated from metallic particles. The addition of copper and brass particles into epoxy matrix displayed higher values of voltage than that observed for iron particles. Voltage was influenced by the load, where it increased with load increasing. Based on the present observations, it can be concluded that as the electrical conductivity of the metallic particles increased the metallic particles content to obtain the zero voltage decreased. Voltage generated from the sliding of the tested composites against rubber was much higher than that observed at contact and separation. Generally, values of metallic content that generated zero voltage at contact and separation were much lower than at sliding. Friction coefficient slightly increased with increasing metallic content. Based on the quantification of floor slip-resistance, the static friction coefficient of 0.5 was recommended as the slip resistant standard for normal walking conditions. For all the test specimens friction coefficient exceeded 1.0 which confirmed that the floor made of the tested composites will be very safe for walking. At brass content where the generated voltage diminished, friction coefficient value approached 1.4. This observation recommends that composites to be used as flooring tiles. Besides, addition of copper particles caused significant friction increase.