Hayden Richardsa, Hisham Abusalmaa, Abhijit Dasguptaa, Andres Bujandaa, Harvey Tsangb, and Matthew Bowmanb
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA
b Murata Integrated Passive Solutions, 14000, Caen, France
For more information about this article and related research, please contact Prof. Abhijit Dasgupta.
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the response of printed hybrid electronic (PHE) assemblies with polymeric substrates and additively manufactured sintered silver electrical traces subject to extreme mechanical shocks (up to 100,000 g) and high temperatures (up to 150 °C). The substrates are hemispherical domes of injection-molded polycarbonate and polysulfone thermoplastics. Trace deposition onto the domes is accomplished by a novel process that combines conventional milling with extrusion printing to recess silver traces and dielectric insulation within the surface of the substrate. Mechanical shock testing is performed using an accelerated-fall drop tower equipped with a dual mass shock amplifier (DMSA) able to generate accelerations from 10,000 g up to 100,000 g with pulse durations of ∼0.05–0.1 ms and impact velocities of 6.5–20.5 m/s. Specimen performance is characterized by electrical and physical testing before and after testing. While polycarbonate domes survive multiple drops at all acceleration levels and temperatures, they are sensitive to heat and susceptible to warping and structural deformation at 150 °C which can compromise trace performance. Polysulfone domes can survive these temperatures without issue, but are less shock resistant and only survive 3–4 drops at 100,000 g (compared to 30+ for polycarbonate domes). Trace resistance is used as a metric to assess trace performance. All traces exhibit progressive long-term degradation over the course of multiple shocks, followed by instantaneous discontinuity during the final shock event. Trace failure (defined as the doubling of static trace resistance) occurs at ∼105–106 J/kg cumulative impact energy for all acceleration levels.
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