Different conformal coatings have a wide range of uses throughout many different industries.  While originally founded for the electronics industry, because of the benefits of using conformal coatings, it has branched into many other fields most notably medical, automotive, and LED.

 Medical Conformal Coatings Used

While all conformal coating types can be used for different applications, for many medical devices, parylene is the way to go.  Because parylene is biologically inert, FDA approval of parylene coated devices is well-documented. The coatings comply with USP Class VI plastics requirements and are MIL-I-46058C / IPC-CC-830B listed.  Another benefit for medical devices such as stents and catheters is that parylene is entirely conformal, meaning that component configurations with sharp edges, points, flat surfaces, crevices or exposed internal surfaces are coated uniformly without voids or pinholes.

 Automotive Conformal Coatings Used

A popular choice for automotive uses is silicone conformal coating.  Because many automotive applications have high temperature requirements (>80ºC), parylene C or N is not a viable option.  While there are some variations of fluorinated parylenes with high temperature capabilities available, the very high costs involved make high volume production runs not economically feasible.  Silicone conformal coating typically can operate at 200ºC, with some variations operating in excess of 600ºC, making it an excellent alternative at a fraction of the cost.

 LED (Light Emitting Diode) Conformal Coatings Used

The LED market is a rapidly expanding niche for the conformal coating industry.  While LED manufacturers love the optical clarity of parylene, the lack of UV stability is often a problem for most outdoor applications.  Diamond-MT has a proprietary, two-step parylene coating process that will give LED manufacturers all of the benefits of parylene C along with UV stability they demand, without the inflated costs of fluorinated parylenes.

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