What is the difference between antistatic, conductive and static dissipative?

The terms conductive and static dissipative typically refer to resistance or resistivity ranges used in the evaluation of ESD control materials and products. By definition, a conductive material has a surface resistivity of less than 1 x 10E5 ohms per square or a volume resistivity less than 1 x 10E4 ohm-cm. A static dissipative material has a surface resistivity of 1 x 10E5 to 1 x 10E12 ohms per square or a volume resistivity of 1 x 10E4 to 1 x 10E11 ohm-cm. These definitions appear in the ESD Association Glossary as well as in various other static control standards documents.

For some materials, surface resistance rather than surface resistivity is often used to define these terms. In this case, a simple conversion factor is applied, dividing the resistivity ranges by 10. Thus conductive becomes less than 1 x 10E4 ohms and static dissipative becomes 1 x 10E4 to 1 x 10E11 ohms, provided that the appropriate electrodes with the correct geometric conversions are used. ANSI/ESD S11.11 provides additional information on this issue.

The term antistatic, however, does not refer to resistance or resistivity. By definition, the term refers to a material that resists tribocharging. At one time, the term referenced a resistance value, but it was severely misused and today no longer represents any resistance range.