Conductive Inks and Epoxies

Chemtronics offers the CircuitWorks® Rubber Keypad Repair Kit, which can be used to repair keypads by restoring conductivity to worn, intermittent, and nonconductive carbon contacts. It is a 2-part mix, and comes with a swab, brush, and plastic pick to help with mixing and applying the materials.

Standard 2-part epoxy can contaminate the surface of the connector, creating an insolative barrier. 2-part conductive epoxy is a great solution for making repairing damaged pads. This type of epoxy contains conductive material, so when cured, it forms a very strong and highly conductive bond, similar to a solder joint. Chemtronics offers two options: CircuitWorks® Conductive Epoxy, which cures in 10 minutes, and CircuitWorks® 60 Minute Conductive Epoxy, which provides more time to work. Both Epoxies have A and B components that need to be thoroughly mixed before the curing process will begin. Once mixed, you use the included plastic pick to apply to epoxy to the connection.

CircuitWorks Conductive Paint is a single component, silver-filled polymer that dries in minutes at room temperature, making it an ideal solution for patching EMI/RFI shielding. The kit comes with brushes, swabs, and a plastic pick to repair large and small areas. In the case of metal screen and wire mesh, it is important that the holes in the screen or mesh are significantly smaller than the wavelength of the electromagnetic radiation being kept out. The goal of such mesh designs is to maintain a consistent hole pattern with a conductive material to ensure electrical continuity. Such a mesh can be repaired by restoring the hole pattern using polyimide tape and CircuitWorks Conductive Paint. Simply apply the polyimide tape to the inside of the mesh and carefully restore the mesh pattern with the CW2205. It is important to ensure that the contact is maintained between the mesh and the conductive paint. A second layer of polyimide tape can be applied to the opposite side for increased durability. Since the polyimide tape is invisible to electromagnetic fields at these wavelengths, the polyimide tape can remain and the EMI shield is restored. Another common situation is that the aluminum foil inside shielded cable is damaged. Similar to the case above, this will cause a loss of continuity and could again allow electromagnetic interference. A simple repair in this case is to repair the hole or tear with polyimide tape and then use the CircuitWorks Conductive Paint to paint the tape and restore continuity.

A common method of repairing a broken trace is to solder on a jumper, which is basically a wire bypass around the broken trace. This can be time-consuming and visually unappealing. Chemtronics offers CircuitWorks® Conductive Pens, which contain a highly conductive material like silver or nickel suspended in a liquid polymer. These pens allow you to literally redraw the trace.

2-part conductive epoxy is a great solution for making solderless electronic connections. This type of epoxy contains conductive material, so when cured, it forms a very strong and highly conductive bond, similar to a solder joint. Chemtronics offers two options: CircuitWorks® Conductive Epoxy, which cures in 10 minutes, and CircuitWorks® 60 Minute Conductive Epoxy, which provides more time to work. Both Epoxies have A and B components that need to be thoroughly mixed before the curing process will begin. Once mixed, you use the included plastic pick to apply to epoxy to the connection. If movement is possible during the curing process, you will need to tape down or otherwise secure the wires or components.