FAQ

How long does the protection from the Intercept Technology™ barrier last?

Intercept’s protective shelf life is years, possibly decades. Testing from Bell Labs and Dupont has shown that the Intercept products’ life span is multiple years of protection based on material style, gauge, and aggressive environment level exposure; check Liberty’s product page (link to main product page) for individual product specifics.

Does the entire Intercept product line protect against ESD events?

Static Intercept®, ATCI, and AT are in the perfect dissipative range according to the ANSI/ESD S541; ANSI/ESD S20-20. RIBS MVTR and RIBS MVTR Ultra are static dissipative, shielding, and offer EMI protection. All Intercept products are non-tribocharging (that is, they will not create a static field).

Does Static Intercept® shield against static charges?

RIBS products are shielding materials. Static Intercept® was designed to protect the Bell Labs preferred way, which is the static dissipative way, draining the static charges quickly and safely to ground.

When protecting against corrosion, don’t all barrier products work the same?

Barrier protection products work in vastly different ways. The Intercept Technology™ line of products protects in two ways. First, they act as a moisture barrier. Second, they react with and permanently neutralize corrosive gases that form a corrosive gas barrier. This dual form of protection eliminates the two elements needed to form atmospheric corrosion. Intercept’s mechanism for protection is sacrificial, therefore, it won’t contaminate the product it’s protecting. The typical “waterproof” or vapor barrier bag concept is to attempt to keep the atmosphere and/or relative humidity from the protected product; whereas the emitting protection products will coat the protected product to stop corrosion from forming.

Shouldn’t keeping water from our metals be enough to stop corrosion?

Not necessarily; water is a factor in ferrous corrosion, but not necessarily in non-ferrous (non-iron) corrosion. The atmospheric corrosive gases such as chlorine, sulfur, ozone, nitrous gases, when compared to water, are smaller, faster, and have a need to react, to become stable. They can penetrate materials that water cannot. Also, it’s difficult to completely evacuate a package, especially if the package is big and bulky or oddly shaped. Intercept’s ability to preferentially react with and neutralize corrosive gases solves those issues.

Are desiccants needed when utilizing the Intercept packaging materials?

Yes and no. If there are no large voids in the package, then the Intercept will react with the corrosive gases within the package and eliminate the potential danger without desiccating. However, if there are large voids that don’t allow the Intercept material to be close to some areas, then it would be best to utilize desiccants, making sure that the desiccants are not directly touching metals. We recommend an Intercept innovation, Intercept void fill pillows, to minimizing the impact of humidity in packages with large dead air spaces.

Is there a limit to the item size that Intercept can protect?

In a word, no. For larger applications, Intercept can be made into shrink film or laminated onto very durable flexible materials. Our contractors have made covers for helicopters, planes, tanks, motor vehicles, buildings, even bridges! With our track record, we’re quite confident we can solve any situation.

Do we need to heat seal and vacuum Intercept barrier products?

You can heat seal Intercept products if you wish. In fact, the Intercept polyethylene films heat seal extremely well. But it’s not necessary, as long as you don’t allow a continual flow of atmosphere into the package. Folding over the ends, openings, and secure tape-downs are an acceptable closure with the Intercept Technology™. In reusable situations or for convenience, zippers, Velcro strips and other closure means are also acceptable. Please keep in mind, when products absolutely require a vacuum and seal, you should consider using our RIBS MVTR bag line, which is ideally suited for packaging more sensitive products. If tape is being used, we recommend plastic tapes and we stress avoiding the use of paper backed tapes and duct tape, since these contain high levels of sulfur.

Will Intercept products react with our materials?

Intercept products are clean and safe. Static Intercept® and RIBS products have been successfully tested for Non-Volatile Residue and particulate counts (when applying for cleanroom applications) by many private companies. Static Intercept® has been tested by NASA, and has been proven to meet their stringent outgassing specification requirements for space flight designation. Intercept products are ideal for cleanroom use and to protect Class 0 devices.

Do the Intercept products meet military specifications?

RIBS products meet the specification requirements for MIL-PRF-81705E Type 1, Class 1 and MIL-PRF-131K. Static Intercept has been tested by the U.S. Army to perform as well in corrosion protection as the MIL-PRF-131J. ATCI meets the criteria for the MIL-PRF-81705E Type 2, Class 1.