Sample and identification
What was tested, from which batch, with which supplier designation.
Klímakamra
ESD climate chamber: material testing at defined temperature and humidity
Testing under real conditions – 48 hours at 12 ± 3 % relative humidity, as the standard requires for product qualification.
Klímakamra
Vizsgálatok valós körülmények között
Egyedülálló klímakamra ESD-mérésekhez meghatározott hőmérsékleten és páratartalmon.
Hőmérséklet+15 … +30 °C
Páratartalom12 % … 60 % rel. p.
MegfelelőségDIN EN IEC 61340-5-1
DokumentációTeljes
Scope
What we test in the chamber
Anything whose ESD properties depend on humidity – which is nearly everything an EPA is built from. The measurement follows the test method of the 61340 series, the assessment follows the limit of the main standard:
| Test object | Test method | Limit |
|---|---|---|
| Floor coverings and floor coatings | IEC 61340-4-1 | Rg below 1 × 109 Ω |
| Work surfaces, mats, shelving, trolleys | IEC 61340-2-3 | Rg below 1 × 109 Ω |
| Chairs and seating | IEC 61340-2-3 | Rg below 1 × 109 Ω |
| ESD footwear (product qualification) | IEC 61340-4-3 | below 1 × 108 Ω |
| Footwear together with the floor, as a system | IEC 61340-4-5 | below 1 × 109 Ω and body voltage below 100 V |
| EPA garments | IEC 61340-4-9 | point-to-point below 1 × 1011 Ω; groundable garment systems below 1 × 109 Ω |
| ESD gloves and finger cots | EN 16350 | below 1 × 108 Ω |
| Packaging – dissipative and conductive | IEC 61340-2-3 / -5-3 | conductive below 1 × 104 Ω; dissipative 1 × 104 … 1 × 1011 Ω |
| Shielding bags | IEC 61340-4-8 | energy below 20 nJ |
Samples are enough – a floor tile, a metre of matting, a pair of shoes, a garment, a handful of bags. You do not have to install anything first.
The reason
Why dry air is the honest test case
The dissipative behaviour of most ESD materials rests on moisture. Carbon-loaded materials conduct through their filler and stay stable; many surface-treated or hygroscopic materials conduct through a film of water that dry air simply removes. Between a humid summer and a dry heating season, the same floor can move by an order of magnitude – and the limit does not move with it.
The practical consequence is uncomfortable: a material that passes in July says nothing about January, which is exactly when the field failures start. Two things follow. Recurring verification belongs in the dry season – whoever passes in winter passes all year. And qualification of new material cannot be done under whatever conditions happen to prevail on the day.
What the standard says
48 hours at 12 ± 3 % relative humidity and 23 ± 2 °C
DIN EN IEC 61340-5-1 separates two things that are often confused. Megfelelőség-ellenőrzés is the recurring check of your EPA under operating conditions – that is the measurement service. Product qualification asks whether a material is suitable at all, and for that the standard has it conditioned for 48 hours at 12 ± 3 % relative humidity and 23 ± 2 °C before the reading is taken.
Those two days are not a formality. A floor that has stood in a warehouse at 60 % humidity carries moisture that takes a day and a half to leave. Measure too early and you measure the warehouse, not the material.
Our chamber covers +15 to +30 °C and 12 to 60 % relative humidity – the qualification point sits inside that range with room on both sides, so the condition is held rather than approached.
What else changed with the current edition: DIN EN IEC 61340-5-1:2025 (transition until June 2027).
Experience
What typically fails – and why
Four patterns come up again and again. None of them is visible on a data sheet:
- Surface-treated material that dries out
Coatings and treatments that work through a moisture film lose their effect in dry air. The data sheet value was measured at 50 % humidity; nobody stated that. - Garments without a conductive grid
A coat of pure polyester with an antistatic finish behaves very differently at 12 % than a garment with a carbon grid woven in. The difference only shows in the dry. - Foam and packaging that has aged
Pink antistatic foam works through a migrating additive that depletes over years. A bag from the shelf can be well outside the range a new one met. - Gloves and finger cots
The thinnest layer between hand and assembly, and often the most volatile. Dry hands, dry air, a glove at its limit – and the personnel grounding chain ends before it reaches the component.
The result
What a qualification report contains
Nothing that could be argued with in an audit is left out:
Conditioning
Start, end and the logged temperature and humidity over the whole 48 hours – not just the value at the end.
Method and instrument
The test method of the 61340 series, the instrument used and its calibration record.
Readings per measuring point
Every point individually, not one summary figure for the whole sample.
Limit and assessment
The limit of the standard next to the reading, and a clear pass or fail against it.
The measuring instruments are calibrated in our own laboratory, and the chamber is available for calibrations at defined conditions too. More on measurements and calibration.
Frequently asked questions
Why does ESD material have to be tested in dry air?
Because the resistance of most ESD materials depends on humidity. A floor that sits comfortably below its limit in June at 55 % relative humidity can be an order of magnitude above it in February at 20 %. Testing in comfortable summer air produces a reading that says nothing about the winter. Dry air is not the harsh case – it is the honest one.
What exactly does the standard require for qualification?
For product qualification, DIN EN IEC 61340-5-1 has the material conditioned for 48 hours at 12 ± 3 % relative humidity and 23 ± 2 °C before measuring. Two days in defined dry air, not a quick pass with a hand-held meter. That is what a chamber is for, and it is why qualification results and routine compliance verification are two different things.
Do we have to qualify material we have already installed?
The standard asks for qualification before a material becomes part of your EPA – so ideally you test before you buy, not after you have laid 400 square metres. If a floor is already down, testing it under conditioned conditions still tells you what to expect next winter, and whether you need a plan before the heating season rather than during it.
Can you also test material we have not bought from you?
Yes. The chamber is a service, not a sales argument – we test samples from any supplier, and the report says what the readings are. That is the whole point: a supplier who tests their own material has an interest in the result, and an independent measurement is what your customer auditor will accept.
What do we get at the end?
A qualification report: the sample and its identification, the conditioning period with its logged temperature and humidity, the test method and instrument with its calibration record, the readings per measuring point, the limit of the standard and a clear assessment against it. Structured so you can put it in your control programme documentation unchanged.
Have a sample tested
Send us the material – a tile, a metre of matting, a pair of shoes, a garment, a few bags – and tell us what it is meant to be used for. You get a quote before anything is measured.