Specialty Silicone Products (SSP) is enabling defense contractors to reduce EMI gasket costs without compromising quality or performance. In addition to cost-effective nickel-graphite materials, SSP provides molded or bonded EMI frame gaskets that maximize yields and reduce waste. SSP also makes continuous rolls that are less expensive to produce and faster to fabricate into finished parts.
Nickel-Graphite Materials
SSP makes nickel-graphite silicones and fluorosilicones that are less expensive than elastomers with silver or silver-coated fills. Yet these SSP materials deliver the shielding performance that many military projects require. The MIL-DTL-83528 specification for electrically conductive elastomeric shielding gaskets provides a framework for comparison.
MIL-DTL-83528 specifies a shielding effectiveness of 80, 100, or 110 dB, depending on the lettered section. SSP makes nickel-graphite materials with a shielding effectiveness that exceeds this standard. This includes our most cost-effective EMI gasket material, SSP502-65, an alternative to CHO-SEAL 6503. See our full list of CHO-SEAL alternatives for other SSP offsets.
Molded or Bonded EMI Frame Gaskets
EMI frame gaskets resemble a picture frame with a large, empty area in the middle. Cutting a gasket like this can be expensive if the material in the middle is discarded. That’s why SSP can mold EMI frame gaskets in a single piece instead. Compression molding reduces material waste, and it’s cost-effective at low volumes. Plus, SSP has an in-house machine shop where we make our own tools.
SSP can also make bonded EMI frame gaskets from sheet materials that we mold and then cut to size at our Made in USA manufacturing facility. There are different ways to bond EMI gaskets, but SSP uses hot splicing because it reduces the risk of EMI leakage and eliminates the “hard spot” that’s found in other gaskets. Bonded EMI gaskets are a good choice for large electronic enclosures.
Continuous Rolls
Finally, SSP can help defense contractors to reduce EMI gasket costs by providing them with continuous rolls instead of compression molded sheets. Most of SSP’s EMI silicones and fluorosilcones are available in continuous rolls, and buyers can choose standard EMI roll sizes or rolls that come in custom thicknesses or widths.
With roll stock manufacturing, SSP can produce hundreds of sheets of raw material in just a few days. That allow us to ship rolls more quickly while lowering costs and shortening delivery timetables. By contrast, the press time for EMI sheet stock is 15 minutes. In an hour then, molding can produce a maximum of just four sheets. That’s fine for lower parts volumes, but rolls support higher quantities.
Cut EMI Gasket Costs for Military Projects
Are you ready to learn more about cutting EMI gasket costs for military projects? Contact SSP.
