Conformal Coating

Request Information

Conformal Coating

*=required field

Where To Buy

Articles

Videos

FAQs

Techspray offers SR, AR and UR conformal coating formulas for a wide variety engineering requirements including thermal, moisture & static resistance. All coatings are IPC-CC-830B and UL94 V-0 qualified.

Techspray offers a variety of conformal coating formulas for differing field or engineering requirements and is IPC CC 830B and UL94-0 Qualified or rated. Specifications generally depend on the type of protection needed: e.g., thermal, moisture, or static resistance.

Coatings contain Opti/Scan (except LED Coating) to allow quality control inspection of coverage and evenness of the coating on a PCB. A coated board can be passed under a standard, low-cost UV (short-wave black) light to fluoresce the coated areas. The brighter the glow, the thicker the coating.

Application methods:

Dip – High volume method to fully coat boards. Thickness of the final coating is controlled by viscosity and withdrawal speed from the pot.
Conformal Coating Spray – Computer controlled selective spray systems eliminate the need for masking. Higher viscosity is generally needed (70-200 cps) to create precise edge definition and prevent splattering.
Manual Application – Aerosol and brushing are generally used for small production runs, rework and repair. The aerosol needs to be compatible with the original coating if it’s rework.

For more information, check out our Essential Guide to Conformal Coating.

Conformal Coating Selection Guide

Fine-L-Kote SRV Silicone Conformal Coating

Silicone conformal coating that is high gloss, ultra-clear, moisture and abrasion resistant

View Details

Turbo-Coat Acrylic Conformal Coating

Acrylic Conformal Coating with the fastest cure, dry to touch in 3 minutes!

View Details

Fine-L-Kote AR Acrylic Conformal Coating

Acrylic conformal coating for high dielectric strength & good moisture and abrasion resistance

View Details

Fine-L-Kote SR Silicone Conformal Coating

Silicone Conformal Coating that's ideal for moisture, thermal and vibration protection

View Details

Fine-L-Kote LED2 Silicone Coating

Silicone conformal coating designed to coat over LEDs

View Details

Fine-L-Kote HT High-Temp Silicone Conformal Coating

Silicone coating engineered for superior thermal and moisture resistance

View Details

Fine-L-Kote UR Urethane Conformal Coating

Tough coating with good chemical resistance

View Details

Turbo-Coat Thinner

Conformal coating thinner for Turbo-Coat

View Details

Conformal Coating Remover

Coating stripper for acrylic, silicone and urethane

View Details

Fine-L-Kote Conformal Coating Remover XT

Coating stripper for acrylic, silicone, urethane, and component epoxy coatings

View Details

FAQ's

What is the difference between full cure and tack-free cure?

Full cure is when it meets all the final specifications. There might be some out-gassing, but it will be as hard as it is going to be, and adhesion is as good as it gets. Tack-free is as the name suggests, not sticky so you can move it along the assembly process.

How can you reduce chemical exposure?

Every organization using hazardous chemicals within their facility has the responsibility to equip their facility and personnel to maintain exposure levels below the TLV. Personal monitoring badges can be used to measure exposure of a specific material. Then, depending on the threshold limit and the application, exposure can be controlled with PPE like masks, face shields, respirators, and even coveralls. If they don’t reduce exposure below the recommended limit, you will need to consider a special ventilation hood or even containment booth. As you can see, as the exposure limit gets down to a certain level, the equipment required to safely use the solvent can get impractical. At that point, your best option is to consider a safer alternative.

What is the difference between dielectric strength and dielectric withstand voltage?

The dielectric strength is material intrinsic property and withstand voltage is surface property which depend on thickness of the material. They can be slightly different for thicker materials, but for conformal coating, the two numbers should be very close or the same. That is because we test coating at 3-5 mils thickness, calculate, then report the value per mil.

What type of UV light / black light should I use for QC inspection of the final conformal coating?

Conformal coating with UV tracer can be inspected with any typical UV lamp which has wavelength of 320-380 nm.

How do you remove conformal coating when repairing or reworking a PCB?

Techspray offers the TraceTech Conformal Coating Remover Pen that allows you to remove a tight area of coating around a repair area without affecting the rest of the PCB. You first saturate the tip by tapping it lightly on a surface, which opens the valve and releases solvent. Holding the tip down may oversaturate it, which could lead to solvent flowing into unintended areas.

Is conformal coating conductive?

No, conformal coatings are non-conductive, or insulative. The job of conformal coating is to isolate the PCB or components from the environment and even components (i.e. high voltage or high heat) from the rest of the board. To do that properly, a coating must have electrically insulating properties with as high of a dielectric withstand voltage (or strength) as possible.

Is conformal coating waterproof?

While conformal coatings can offer a moisture resistant layer of protection, most cannot be considered waterproof. Even if applied heavily, most coatings are semi-permeable, so allow some amount of moisture through. Conformal coating can, however, prevent current leakage or corrosion due to ambient moisture. To truly waterproof electronics, you either need gasketing to seal the electronics within the packaging or cover the electronics with a waterproof encapsulant or potting compound.

Is conformal coating necessary?

Whether or not conformal coating is required depends on the environment the electronic device will operate in, the reliability requirement of the device, and the cost of failure, whether in dollars or human lives. Typical consumer devices are generally not coated because cost is one of the top driving factors, and a coating step certainly adds to that. Devices operating in harsh environments may require coating, and the type of stresses and contamination will point to the best option, whether that is acrylic resin (AR), silicone resin (SR), urethane resin (UR), or some other type of protection. Aviation, aerospace, and medical devices often require coating because of the mission critical nature of these applications.

What does conformal coating do?

Conformal coating is a specially engineered polymeric film-forming product that protects circuit boards, components, and other electronic devices from harmful environmental conditions like moisture, thermal shock, static, vibration, and contamination. These coatings ‘conform’ to the irregular landscape of the PCB providing increased dielectric resistance, operational integrity, and reliability. There are a number of options for coating technologies, and the best option should depend mainly on the protection required. Application method and ease of rework are also important factors, but should generally be considered secondary to the protective performance needed.

More FAQs

Articles

The Essential Guide to Waterproofing Electronics

The current development in technology has forced electronics to move out of offices and face environmental conditions in outdoor locations. Among all environmental factors, moisture is the cause of a vast majority of failures in electronics, and a major concern for electronics manufacturers. Water l...

Read This Post

Essential Guide to the Identification and Removal of Conformal Coating

This procedure covers the methods to identify the conformal coating so that the ideal removal method can be identified and utilized, then presents a commonly-employed removal procedure with brief summaries of the other removal methods.[1]Click here to see a video demonstration on removing confo...

Read This Post

Impact of Partial Discharge Through Conformal Coating on Avionics Reliability

The technological breakthroughs in the field of power electronics have transformed the automotive, military, and defense industries. Particularly, the reliance of the aerospace industry on electronic systems has increased significantly. To keep up with the aerospace industry's requirement of high po...

Read This Post

PCBA Cleaning & Conformal Coating Increase Reliability of Critical Systems

Electronic systems in commercial, automotive, and military sectors have increased immensely over the last two decades due to technological advancements. With this increased dependency on electronics, it is more crucial than ever to ensure the reliability of these systems in varying climatic conditio...

Read This Post

Case Study: Inconsistent Selective Coating Spray Caused by Loose Screw

In my travels as Techspray Field Engineer, my job is to solve customer problems and optimize their processes. A LED display manufacturer was using Fine-L-Kote LED2 Silicone Coating, but was getting inconsistent results. It doesn’t always work this way, but in this case we were able to find a &...

Read This Post

Boosting Durability of Electronics in Robotics, Grow Lights and Controllers for Indoor Farms

Indoor growing technology has been rapidly improving in recent years, increasing in sophistication and effectiveness. This is driven by the demand of a rapidly increasing indoor farming market, which requires greater and greater output efficiencies. The indoor farming market is forecasted to grow 10...

Read This Post

Case Study: Conformal Coating Improves Reliability of Grow Lights without Affecting Light Properties

Techspray was approached by a grow light manufacturer that was struggling to produce LED light fixtures with good reliability in harsh conditions. Their solution was to apply conformal coating to their printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA), but that led to a host of complications, which included s...

Read This Post

3 Testing Standards That Separate Conformal Coating From Shellac

As an electronic manufacturing services (EMS) supplier, you are required to think on your feet and are forced to gain new capabilities as your customers’ specifications change. This can be daunting, especially when you try to bring conformal coating manufacturing in-house and make both materia...

Read This Post

How To Identify and Cure The Top 7 Conformal Coating Defects

One of the most common customer support calls we receive is about solving conformal coating application issues. Given the number of variables involved in a conformal coating process (e.g. coating formula, viscosity, substrate variations, temperature, air mix, contamination, evaporation, humidit...

Read This Post

The Essential Guide to Conformal Coating

With the increased popularity of miniaturized electronics and circuitry, conformal coating use has skyrocketed to solidify its relevance in a wealth of modern PCB-related applications . Choosing the ideal type of coating and application methods for your electronics is crucial. However, processing th...

Read This Post

Video Guide to Removing Conformal Coating

Techspray has just released a short tutorial that guides you through the step-by-step process of stripping conformal coating from a PCB without damaging components, contacts and the board surface. Removing Conformal Coating from a Circuit Board Today I’m going to cover the pro...

Read This Post