Custom Services

Shielding

Plastics, including those made by Planet Proto, are non-conductive and do not shield electromagnetic interference (EMI) from being emitted from electronic equipment or from penetrating and interfering with the operation of electronic equipment. In fact, Planet Proto uses some custom higher production materials that are developed to be “Radio Clear.” These materials are used for MRI machine components.

Many electronic systems built with plastic components require shielding to meet regulations and ensure reliable performance.

Conductive coatings consume very little volume in an electronic enclosure and can help meet shielding requirements. Conductive coatings provide EMI control in laptop computers, cellular handsets, telecom switchgear, medical devices, military electronics and industrial equipment. Every cell phone in existence today relies on a conductive coating for some part of the enclosure. Planet Proto can provide shielding through two different methods.

Requirements
Designing for EMI shielding is best done early in the product design cycle. Designing the electronics, the plastic enclosure and EMI shielding system simultaneously is always the best approach.

EMI shielding coatings can assist the engineer in specifying a coating that will meet the requirements. EMI can be divided into two broad categories, magnetic and electric. Magnetic interference is generally viewed as less than 30 MHz frequency, while electric interference is 30 MHz and above. To shield longer wavelength magnetic interference, thicker coatings with magnetic materials such as nickel are preferred.

For electric interference, thin conductive coatings comprised of copper or silver typically perform best. In many cases, the conductive metal thickness can be as thin as 1 micron for applications with frequency greater than 30 MHz.

Mechanical design of the plastic components needs to accommodate the coating processes in both prototyping and production.

More Information

Conductive Paint on Planet Cast or Planet PolyJet or Planet SLA parts
Conductive paints use micron-sized metal particles of nickel or copper suspended into a paint system. Parts are masked to specifications provided through Planet Proto’s upload system. Please save your conductive paint masking documentation file as a .pdf file. We will review it and provide a customized quote.

The fully cured conductive paint thickness generally ranges ranges from 0.0005” (0.0125 mm) to 0.002” (0.05 mm). Planet Proto does not guarantee the thickness of a painted conductive coating.

The paint is applied in our paint booth with a spray gun. Our manually applied conductive paint is well-tailored to lower volume applications.

Quicker turnaround is available for Planet Proto parts coated with conductive paint.

Plated Finishes on Planet Cast or Planet PolyJet or Planet SLA parts
Electronic equipment for medical applications, consumer electronics, mobile computing and military applications almost always requires a small form factor and light weight. Plated Planet Proto parts have a longer lead time than typical prototype parts but offer component performance not usually available in prototyping or low volume applications. Lightweight, strong and durable parts also can be shielded by plating a Planet Cast or Planet Proto provided injection molded part.

Plated plastics are used to meet the EMI/RFI shielding requirements. Nickel thickness can be varied between 50 and 600 microinches (1.25-15.0 µm) to meet mechanical and environmental requirements. Planet Proto does not guarantee the thickness of plating on low volume parts. Success is often a function of how a part is masked. Please save your conductive paint masking documentation file as a .pdf file and upload it to the Plant Proto site. We will review your files and masking plan and provide a customized quote.