Polymer Engineering Center > Research > Continuous Electronic Laminate Processing

This research project is a cooperative effort between the Ohio State University (OSU) and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is funded through an NSF grant. Electronic circuit printed boards play a vital role in the growing electronics industrial market. Printed circuit boards are made from copper clad laminates; copper foils on polymer matrix - fiber mat composites. The current method of manufacturing copper clad laminates are based on the processing solvent based resins in batch-type compression processes, which lead to voids, environmental hazards caused by the solvent, and dimensional inconsistencies of the laminate and finished circuit board. Continuous electronic laminate processing method is a novel method, which addresses the major industrial concerns of solvent elimination, void removal, dimensional consistency, short cycle times and economics. The project is divided into an experimental and a numerical study. The experimental set-up is being built at OSU while the numerical modeling is done at the UW. To better understand and control the process, a model was developed to study the heat transfer, resin flow, curing and residual stress build-up of the continuous electronic laminate manufacturing process. The model is currently being tested and will soon be verified with experimental findings of our OSU research partners.