HZO Testing As Presented By Our Favorite Chemist

On November 19^th, HZO Chemist, Sean Clancy, Ph.D., presented “Protecting Electronics from the Deleterious Effects of Liquids and Other Contaminants at the Molecular Level” at the IPC-SMTA High-Reliability Cleaning and Conformal Coating Conference 2014 in Schaumburg, IL.  A presentation title that only our fine Chemist would conjure up.  

While Dr. Clancy’s presentation provided a detailed overview of HZO as an organization, we thought we’d trim things down and share the highlights of a section covering the rigorous testing performed on our material after it is applied to the surface of electronics. Some of these tests are conducted at our facility, others are sourced to independent agencies. In either case, the results consistently demonstrate the durability and strength of HZO technology when exposed to extreme environmental hazards.

Enjoy the results. We certainly do.

HZO Environmental Testing

HZO’s superior performance was confirmed by IPU, a private company associated with the Technical University of Denmark.  IPU evaluated three thicknesses of HZO’s coating at 100% relative humidity (RH) for 524 hours (21.8 days) and no corrosion was observed over this time.

HZO surpassed other common conformal coating materials, of which an acrylic showed corrosion after 100 hours, a silicone lasted only 165 hours, and a polyurethane lasted only 199 hours.

IPU’s experiment concluded at over 500 hours with no evidence of corrosion observed for HZO.

Salt Fog Testing

HZO’s superior corrosion protection was also confirmed by Trace Laboratories.  An uncoated control board sample and HZO coated samples were evaluated in a salt fog test chamber at 35 °C, 5 weight % NaCl, for 168 hours (7 days).

The uncoated control board sample showed massive corrosion, while HZO’s coated sample showed minor discoloration, but no corrosion.

Sulfur Corrosion Testing

HZO’s corrosion protection was verified by Battelle with Flowers-of-Sulfur (FoS) Testing.  The FoS conditions were 530 to 1500 ppb S₈ molecule concentration, at 60 to 71 ^oC, and over 45 days.  The samples were custom assemblies with twenty-five resistors in parallel and coated with a silicone spray or HZO.  In the figure below, HZO’s performance was unchanged, while the silicone coating was susceptible to sulfur corrosion.

Coated Battery Performance

A wide variety and volume of batteries and battery-enabled devices have been tested by HZO to observe for any changes to a battery and its performance after being exposed the HZO coating process and coating.

Below is a graph of the results of the percent change in battery capacity after repeated immersions. Less than 2.5% change in capacity was observed over the study and was well within the battery performance parameters.