Preventing water vapour from causing damage to electronics

31st March 2016

Joe Bush

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The importance of protecting electronic components and equipment from moisture would seem to be a no-brainer as it causes electronic and system failure, yet some simple steps are not always being taken. One of the most critical of these is reducing the amount of water vapour that seeps through the enclosure and component packaging - even military grade missiles have crashed because of this problem.

Versaperm has designed and produced a range of fast and efficient ways to test (and quantify) this issue for electronics and electronic enclosures. It can measure the vapour permeability of any enclosures, components, materials, flat samples or even complete products.

Although liquid water is easy to keep out with a good seal, water vapour will still permeate through the actual material that makes the seal or enclosure. Many traditional water barrier materials, such as cellulose, EVOH or PVOH, are virtually useless as vapour barriers - which can lead to catastrophic failure.

The Versaperm range was purpose designed and gives results that are typically accurate in the parts per million (PPM) range. It can measure several material samples, seals or enclosures at a time in a variety of environmental conditions.

Optionally, the system can also work with virtually all other common gasses and vapours including hydrocarbons, solvents and CO₂. Versaperm also offers a laboratory service for companies that only need to test samples for permeability on an irregular basis.