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I have a flex circuit I need to repair.  It is repairable, if I can get this coating.  It's not feasible to have a new flex circuit designed.

The situation is that the flex connector on the end is made to be inserted into a clinch type connector.

 Connector: http://www.msdsite.com/temp/j1.jpg

Flex: http://www.msdsite.com/temp/p1.jpg

 All I have to do is peel back the stiffner.  I have already tried this so I know it doesn't damage the trace.  The problem is, if I insert the  traces directly into the connector, I'm sure the traces will wear off in short order.  They are very thin.  However on the original flex connector fingers, there is a black coating that strengthens this connection and is conductive material.

What is the name for this generic type of coating?  I'm trying to find a source that I might carefully apply by hand, to repair this connector.  But I'm not even sure what the coating is or the technical name for this type of coating.

Any help would be appreciated.

Mike,

The picture of the circuit looks like it is probably a printed silver ink on polyester. The lands where the connector mates appears to be a conductive carbon ink (lower cost) and the flexing silver conductors are printed onto the carbon. This type of circuit was hardly intended to be repairable, but would have been designed to be the lowest manufactured cost.

 I would expect that such a circuit could be repaired by restoring the pad with more conductive ink. It is not likely that the carbon ink is any special abrasion resistant coating that is more suited for the connector. It is not certain where you would obtain such a small amount of ink as you may require, maybe an electronics hobby store. Maybe there is a kit for making silver circuits with instructions for printing and curing the ink (usually a low temperature cure like 130-140 degree F).

 If there were a stiffener under the termination area, it is probably important to the function of the connector termination to maintain a critical thickness tolerance for a reliable termination. If you removed this stiffener, you should restore to the original thickness.