Stabilant 22 vs. other contact solutions

There are several ways that contact treatment materials deteriorate over time, and Stabilant 22 was developed to overcome these.

Compounds like dielectric greases used in electronics share basic features with other greases, beginning with an oil base. Oil bases range from traditional hydrocarbon types to PAG types (i.e., polyglycols, more closely related to Stabilant 22). Additives usually include a soap, thickeners, and others related to special applications.

The volatile oil types in some products allow evaporation to occur, however slowly, resulting in a change of composition of the mixture. The benefits of such a mixture are lost over time and residual compounds can behave as contaminants. Stabilant 22 has a very low vapour pressure (low volatility) by design, allowing a very long service life.

Some soap additives (e.g., in lithium greases) can leave residues that become hygroscopic – by attracting water from humidity, these can eventually allow corrosion to begin or worsen.

Some earlier contact treatments contained unsaturated oils, which have unique properties (compared to saturated oils). Under field conditions, these oils had a tendency to cross link, leading to a scummy, almost varnished appearance to the contacts. Crosslinking agents include sulfur (from cutting oils, brass, etc.) and catalysts from such compounds as elastomers (rubber) and plastics.

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Even some connectors’ insulators could contain these substances. This concern also suggests that the “cleaning” of contacts with rubber erasers can sometimes create a long term problem for card edge connectors. The varnishing problem was sometimes countered by the inclusion of crosslinking inhibiting chemicals in the unsaturated oils. These, however, commonly lost most of their efficacy after six to nine months.

Service personnel should never use penetrating oils (designed for loosening bolts and nuts) to treat connectors. The solvents used in some of these can not only affect many elastomers and plastics, but also introduce the same issues addressed above. For example, some of the oils themselves may be very light unsaturated types. Penetrating oils used for threading metal parts may be derived from high sulfur petroleum sources.

In consideration of the contamination problems described, we always recommend thorough cleaning of connectors, followed by application of Stabilant 22.

Stabilant 22 avoids the problems described by being nonreactive to most chemicals in field or service environments. Its composition remains consistent, and it does not contain (or need) any additives. We emphasize the simplicity of choosing Stabilant products, as many of the newer contact treatments require the user to understand the functions of additives - whether anticorrosion chemicals, conductive nanoparticles, or others, precautions apply.

In the case of conductive additives (including gold or silver particles) one must avoid excesses on insulators, even in low voltage applications. Some of these would be exceedingly difficult to use in card edge connectors and sockets, one of the outstanding applications for Stabilant 22A.