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Topic: Stabilant 22? (Read 6960 times) previous topic - next topic
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Stabilant 22?

A friend of mine asked me about this thing called "Stabilant 22", and I come up with this link.

Does this liquid really improve contacts? Anyone used it before?

The price is quite steep... which is why my friend (and me too) wants more info before putting up the cash.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #1 –
Quote
Stabilant 22 is an initially non-conductive amorphous-semiconductive polyoxyethylene-polyoxypropyline block polymer with a molecular weight of about 2800 that, when used in thin films between contacts, acts under the influence of the electrical field and switches to a conductive state.

This seems as utter BS : if a material becomes conductive when exposed to electricity, then it IS conductive to begin with.  I mean, sure, materials are great, but they've just come up with a fancy name for liquid plastic and they sell it away for a fortune.  I'm betting snake oil.  Real snake oil.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #2 –
Quote from: Shade ST on
if a material becomes conductive when exposed to electricity, then it IS conductive to begin with.  I mean, sure, materials are great, but they've just come up with a fancy name for liquid plastic and they sell it away for a fortune.  I'm betting snake oil.  Real snake oil.

I get it that it is not conductive until certain electric field is reached (eg. volts/mm) and then it starts getting conductive, but it still sounds a bit unreal to me.

J.M.

(edit- fixed quote name)

Stabilant 22?

Reply #3 –
Quote from: jmartis on
I get it that it is not conductive until certain electric field is reached (eg. volts/mm) and then it starts getting conductive, but it still sounds a bit unreal to me.

J.M.

You mean that, like air, it would ionize?  Last time I checked, lightning would prefer traveling through metal than air.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #4 –
Quote from: Shade ST on
Quote from: jmartis on

I get it that it is not conductive until certain electric field is reached (eg. volts/mm) and then it starts getting conductive, but it still sounds a bit unreal to me.

J.M.

You mean that, like air, it would ionize?  Last time I checked, lightning would prefer traveling through metal than air.

well, when I think more about it, all non-conductive materials have a "break-down" voltage, ie. maximum voltage they can stand before they actually start conducting (eg. in a form of spark), so even if it was pure oil then the claim would be true   

J.M.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #6 –
So... its conductive liquid? Certainly useful in some situations (like that first review says) basically as heatless sodder, but there is certainly no reason to pay more than a few bucks for conductive paste!

edit:

and for the record, soddering your connectors won't improve audio quality one iota. I don't even think the Stabilant 22 page suggest that!

Stabilant 22?

Reply #7 –
Quote
' date='Jul 12 2006, 12:20' post='411168']
This seems as utter BS : if a material becomes conductive when exposed to electricity, then it IS conductive to begin with.

Not immediately, it takes a while they say.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #8 –
OK, I will admit that I bought a bottle of the stuff and appliled it to my "directional" high-cost interconnects.  I honestly could hear no difference, but I did not ABX it either.  YMMV
Nov schmoz kapop.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #9 –
Based on the information I could get some while ago, it is real and accepted as very functional by people  who are only concerned with functionality (e.g. engineers and such).  It stands up to objective measurements with laboratory instruments. It will not cure a problem that doesn't exist, but it will help when there are actual contact conductivity problems. I didn't look at any current links, but if someone is now advertising some benefits in the same league as green markers for CD rims, things have gone downhill significantly since I did my research.

Whether the price is reasonable or not is a different consideration, but the properties of Stabilant 22 are not similar, in most respects, to "a conductive paste."

Stabilant 22?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: AndyH-ha on
Whether the price is reasonable or not is a different consideration, but the properties of Stabilant 22 are not similar, in most respects, to "a conductive paste."
Are they similar to a polar organic liquid which conducts current?  Because I'm pretty sure you could dig up quite a few liquids like this one in a lab..

Stabilant 22?

Reply #11 –
I did no research into the chemistry. I believe I recall that they claim it to be a unique product, at least as far as anything commercially available goes.

Notice that it only conducts where there is very close metal to metal contact. It will not cause a short between the different pins of a small plug or a PCI slot, for instance.

Stabilant 22?

Reply #12 –
The stuff seems to be (from the MSDS sheets) a polyglycol family polymer, disolved in ethanol (or isopropanol). The idea is that it conducts well in thin films (to enhance contact) but badly enough in thick applications that it doesn't unintentionally bridge contacts. Their claim is that it is non-ohmic (R is not constant with I) which is a behaviour than some other organics exhibit, so it's not too far fetched.

It seems to work well as a contact enhancer (in real-world conditions) and even contact cleaner. Doesn't seem good enough to justify the price, but certainly seems to work.

In short, their claims aren't fantastic enough that it's likely to be snake oil. From what I can see the FAQ should look like this: Does it work? Yes, it seems to. Is it worth the price? Depends on application demands. Does it give you clearer treble and more fluid bass? No. Does my hifi need liquid contact enhancer? No.

Update: Can I drink it? Yeah - don't go above 0.5% of your body weight or you have better than even odds of dying.