Nail Polish Protecting Circuit Board Connections

Conformal Coating.

My company applies it.

Now Lyn, if you have plenty of nail polish left over from coating your toes, why not?

Well, if damage "from ESD and interference causing and receive for boards" is secondary to style, go for it. I prefer a flaming pink.

Sadly, after about 69 years, I was unable to reach my toes any longer.

I expect the OP is still biting his toenails.

What happened to your other post that I replied too?

I bet you look ravishing in flaming pink polish.

The acetone solvent can cause damage to many different plastic parts long before any flash-point concentration levels are reached. Strategically placed small amounts of nail polish have been used in some circuit board applications, usually to prevent an adjusted mechanical part like a potentiometer from moving. There are better, commercially available adjustment sealers. I remember a product called "torque seal".

If you need complete circuit board coverage then go with a suitable conformal coating product.

Usually, Glyptal 1201 is used for this. It has other applications, as well. As much as an indicator as a locking mechanism, like tie wire on vibration prone nuts and bolts. Neither will stop loosening totally, but both will indicate that it has happened.

It's just not MY color though. Too dark and drab.

Covering PCBs with lacquer or "nail polish" help to protect the circuits from corrosion and leakage due to salts and other contaminants. One disadvantage is that it has to be removed for circuit board repair.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/are-there-disadvantages-to-spraying-pcbs-with-parts-with-clear-lacquer.187395/

I mean nail polish is a flammable material, isn't it? Would it cause fire to PCB's?

It certainly is flammable until the solvent evaporates. You planning on firing up the circuit as soon as he polish is applied?

If applied while energized, the acetone might dissolve some insulation and self immollate.

I read your comment and I thought I would ask you a question. I went to Google for some info. :

I see that electrical solder melts at 370* . The flash point of acetone is -4 *. The auto ignition temperature is 869*

Wikipedia says that you could pour liquid acetone on " red hot coals " and the cooling effect from the change to vapor would prevent it from combusting.

Wikipedia says that the flash point would occur if there was a spark or other source of ignition.

How could coals be " red hot " if they were not burning / can they be red hot if not burning ?

So, if solder melts at 370* , and the auto ignition temperature is 869* and there was not a spark or source of ignition, and there was a cooling effect from the physical change ( liquid to vapor ) , how could there be combustion ? It seems that when the solder melts and drops out, the circuit would shut down .

I've never tried this to see what would happen. Is the effect dependent on the auto ignition formula for acetone ?

I don't follow what you are trying to discuss here. You may be replying to another post. (???)

My comment was strictly a facetious one, as the worry over flammability is totally irrelevant to the original concerns if the circuit is not used until the polish has safely dried, and one assumes that the board would not be immediately energized after the application of the polish.

to protect from ESD and interference causing and receive for boards

Conformal coat does nothing for the above.

Conformal coat is used for environmental protection - moisture, contaminated air, etc.

I have found the coated boards stand up much better in the Paper Mill environment.

Nail polish per se, is inflammable because of the volatile solvent used. When once the solvent is evaporated, it is as much inflammable as a PVC insulation of the conductor. Perhaps the one difficulty would be that it would provide extra thermal insulation, and make the components of the PCB get hotter than normal.

I really hate that term "inflammable"! Your use of the term (at least in the first sentence) is indeed correct English, but since the prefix "in-" commonly means "not", I always think that "inflammable" should mean "not flammable". I have a strong preference for omitting the "in". Then your first statement would read:

"Nail polish per se, is flammable because of the volatile solvent used."

Of course that solvent is normally acetone, which indeed is extremely flammable.

Now the structure of your is second sentence is even less clear. My wording for what I think you intended to say would be something like: "Once the solvent has evaporated, the remaining material is no more flammable than the PVC insulation on the wires."

Please do NOT be offended! This word is one of my pet peeves...

Agree with you, but English is English. What can one do ?

That is a true statement ; English english is English, but American english is something different.