What is conductive foam?

Conductive foam is similar to standard packaging foams except for one crucial difference: during the manufacturing process, carbon is added to the polymer mix to provide a high level of conductivity. This allows any electric current to flow through the foam's cell structure and away from the component. In general, the foam will be permanently conductive, making it ideal for multi-trip packaging and in-plant handling applications. Its performance is unaffected by weather conditions.

Conductive foam is classified into two grades: lead-insertion grade and component grade. Lead-insertion grade conductive foam is intended for direct mounting of components into the foam via their leads, and it drains charge from attached components. Cushion grade conductive foam is intended to protect a circuit board or hard disk drive.

Although it is the most expensive type of ESD foam, it fully protects your ESD sensitive component. If you use a much cheaper foam with no conductive properties, you risk damaging your electronic device due to static electricity.