Effect of insert temperature on integrity of a thermoplastic circuit board

摘要

At Loughborough University an environmentally friendly manufacturing process for electronic circuits, involving the embedding of electronic components in thermoplastic resins via insert injection moulding, is under development [1]. Once embedded, interconnection between components is achieved by subsequently plating or printing metallisation patterns on the moulding surface. The environmental benefits of the process arise from the enhanced separability of components, metals and matrix at end of life compared to conventional solder mounting of components on a thermoset polymer based circuit board. The separated components then form concentrated waste streams allowing improved efficiency of material recovery.