Pink Anti-Static Bags or ESD Shielding Bags

Okay, we’ll say this only one more time… Pink Poly Anti-Static Bags are not ESD bags!

The broadly-used references of items being of ‘Anti-static’ or ‘Static-Shielding’ are mutually exclusive terms and require some definition. Many online dictionaries even wrongly suggest these terms up as close synonyms, but in fact, there are major differences between anti-static and static-shielding materials, and many cheap online sellers on platforms like eBay & Amazon confuse the issue by a distinct lack of product knowledge. So please allow us to reiterate…

Antistat’s Pink Anti-Static Bags have the ability to dissipate a static charge to ground preventing static charge building up on the package or device within the bags. The material is also antistatic and will not charge up when rubbed against other materials and these bags can be used to safely package/transport your non-ESD sensitive devices within your ESD protected area. Pink Antistatic Bags are formed using blow-molded LDPE polyethylene with unique antistatic additives but critically they have no shielding ability. A static field or discharge occurring outside the bag could penetrate the bag and damage electronics inside. The material itself will not generate or hold a triboelectric charge, so it won’t be a carrier that introduces static into a static controlled environment. So to summarize, these materials do not protect from electrostatic discharge (ESD).

So to summarize, these materials do not protect from electrostatic discharge (ESD).

Static Shield Bags, however, are the perfect solution for protecting sensitive electronic products or equipment from electrostatic discharge (ESD) during storage and transit. The 4-layer construction we produce protects against charges inside and outside the bag and are specially produced by our precision engineering team to have a surface resistance of 108 – 1011Ω The bags create a metal “Faraday cage” layer that shields products from electric energy inside and prevents static build-up. The inner layer is a static dissipative polyethylene surrounded by a layer of aluminium shielding. The mid-layer is made of polyester, with an outer layer made of a static dissipative coating. Unlike anti-static bags, static-shielding bags protect components from static charges both inside and outside of the bag.

They are used for safe storage of PCBs, integrated circuits, motherboards, computer components and used and trusted by thousands of high-end electronic and engineering companies all over the world, we have been producing these bags since 1987 and have been working with major defense and aerospace organisations globally for over 30 years.

Antistat also many produce custom sizes and printed logos or copy are available on request, although minimum order quantities may apply. These ESD safe bags are RoHS compliant and as well as being an ISO-9001 company, Antistat are also platinum members of the EOS/ESD Association. If you are not shipping or storing electronic components or items that can be damaged by static, but your products could be shipped to an area that is static controlled, you can safely use our pink poly, anti-static materials, in fact, for first time buyers to our online store – we also offer 10% off all products, when bought within the US.

We hope that’s clear and hopefully avoids you having a nasty shock (pun intended) when looking for cheaper alternatives, thousands of consumable products sell fantastically well online, but low-cost, poorly manufactured and often fake alternatives just won’t do their job in high-end electronics and technology production area. Nobody looks for cheap parachutes and our advice is the same when it comes to buying shielding or ESD protective equipment Our advice is to look beyond the low-cost price and ask yourself “does the seller know their ESD properties from their Shielding?. If not, the chances are the products isn’t fit for use either!

Please see our ESD & Shielding bags products here and let us know if you need something custom producing.