-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- pcb007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueThe Growing Industry
In this issue of PCB007 Magazine, we talk with leading economic experts, advocacy specialists in Washington, D.C., and PCB company leadership to get a well-rounded picture of what’s happening in the industry today. Don’t miss it.
The Sustainability Issue
Sustainability is one of the most widely used terms in business today, especially for electronics and manufacturing but what does it mean to you? We explore the environmental, business, and economic impacts.
The Fabricator’s Guide to IPC APEX EXPO
This issue previews many of the important events taking place at this year's show and highlights some changes and opportunities. So, buckle up. We are counting down to IPC APEX EXPO 2024.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - pcb007 Magazine
Multilayer Press Technology Using Magnetism to Produce Lamination Heat
November 11, 2019 | Victor Lazaro Gallego, Chemplate MaterialsEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
A revolutionary concept in multilayer press technology has been developed that uses electromagnetic energy to heat the existing stainless-steel separator plates with a never-before dreamed-of accuracy and precision. The heating and cooling systems—embedded within a robust hydraulic press inside a vacuum chamber design—are controlled using a temperature feedback loop that guarantees perfect fidelity between the press recipe and the press result. This unique, electromagnetic induction technology helps make engineer's needs become a reality
The production of the first four-layer multilayer dates to 1960, which means the industry has manufactured multilayer PCBs for more than half of a century. Everyone involved with the PCB industry knows that the technical evolution of multilayer PCBs has been exponential from the first technical requirements to today’s. Current PCB requirements bring, collaterally, limits to the industrial-level manufacturing of state-of-the-art technologies.
The technical demands of modern PCBs have revolutionized almost all manufacturing processes from the multiple and complex chemical processes to mechanics, such as drilling, through the photoimaging of the circuit. However, if you look at the lamination process to cure today’s sophisticated resin composites, you can see that the evolution of the lamination presses has been slight in comparison. While today’s lamination presses are far better in many aspects than presses 59 years ago, press technology still uses the same method to produce the thermal energy (heat) and deliver the thermal energy that the resin composite needs to properly polymerize.
I want to introduce a new approach that uses a different way to generate thermal energy—and a new way to deliver it to the resins—that improves the lamination process for today’s materials requirements and new requirements in the future. While initially designed for multilayer PCB manufacturing, this technology can also greatly benefit laminate manufacturers, opening up new avenues of research into high-temperature composites and/or significantly shortened lamination cycles.
Technology Description
The InduBond lamination press utilizes a unique and novel way to produce the necessary heat to cure the laminates and multilayers—electromagnetic inductance. The standard and well-known press methods use one of the following technologies to generate the necessary thermal energy:
- Heating thermal oil and pumping it through a press platen
- Electrical heaters located right at the press platen
- A steam system through the press platens
All of these well-known systems heat the large thermal mass of the platens. The heat is then transferred to the panels being laminated via conductivity through the resin materials (i.e., the multilayer books to be laminated).
The novelty of this new technology, however, is that the thermal energy (heat) to cure the resin composites is produced directly at each of the stainless-steel separator plates that are between each multilayer panel in the press stacks. This thermal energy is transferred at the same time—with the same temperature magnitude and without any thermal conduction delays—to every panel of the lamination press stack. As the energy is induced very homogenously, the heat distribution has the highest uniformity possible in every position and direction of the press stack (X-, Y-, and Z-axes). Therefore, all of the layers of laminates inside the press reach the same temperature at the same time; there are no thermal transfer delays.
To make this possible, the laws of magnetism are used to induce high electrical currents that are transformed into thermal energy right at the material requiring polymerization. Because the heat is produced only at each stainless-steel separator plate of the stack, the technology can achieve extremely high temperatures and very rapid ramp-up rates with very high energy efficiency.
This article originally appeared in the October 2019 issue of PCB007 Magazine. Click here to continue reading or download the PDF to your library.
Suggested Items
iNEMI Names Grace O'Malley CTO
05/02/2024 | iNEMIThe Board of Directors of the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) has named Grace O'Malley Chief Technical Officer (CTO).
Dubai Launches Global Blueprint for Artificial Intelligence
05/02/2024 | BUSINESS WIREDubai has launched a blueprint for Artificial Intelligence (AI), a yearly plan that will focus on harnessing the technology’s potential to improve quality of life around the world.
NextFlex Convenes the Hybrid Electronics Community at Binghamton University
05/01/2024 | NextFlexBinghamton University hosted the NextFlex hybrid electronics community on April 18 for a day of expert presentations, breakout sessions on technology and manufacturing topics, and networking.
IDTechEx Report on Quantum Technology: Nano-scale Physics for Massive Market Impact
04/30/2024 | PRNewswireThe quantum technology market leverages nano-scale physics to create revolutionary new devices for computing, sensing, and communications. Across the industry, quantum technology offers a paradigm shift in performance compared with incumbent solutions.
TSMC Certifies Ansys Multiphysics Platforms, Enabling Next-Gen AI and HPC Chips
04/30/2024 | PRNewswireAnsys announced the certification of its power integrity platforms for TSMC's N2 technology full production release. Both Ansys RedHawk-SC and Ansys Totem are certified for power integrity signoff on the N2 process, delivering significant speed and power advantages for high performance computing, mobile chips, and 3D-IC designs.