Fabrication of polyetheretherketone(PEEK)-based 3D electronics with fine resolution by a hydrophobic treatment assisted hybrid additive manufacturing method

Additive manufacturing(AM)is a free-form technology that shows great potential in the integrated creation of three-dimensional(3D)electronics.However,the fabrication of 3D conformal circuits that fulfill the requirements of high service temperature,high conductivity and high resolution remains a challenge.In this paper,a hybrid AM method combining the fused deposition modeling(FDM)and hydrophobic treatment assisted laser activation metallization(LAM)was proposed for manufacturing the polyetheretherketone(PEEK)-based 3D electronics,by which the conformal copper patterns were deposited on the 3D-printed PEEK parts,and the adhesion between them reached the 5B high level.Moreover,the 3D components could support the thermal cycling test from-55℃ to 125℃ for more than 100 cycles.Particularly,the application of a hydrophobic coating on the FDM-printed PEEK before LAM can promote an ideal catalytic selectivity on its surface,not affected by the inevitable printing borders and pores in the FDM-printed parts,then making the resolution of the electroless plated copper lines improved significantly.In consequence,Cu lines with width and spacing of only60μm and 100μm were obtained on both as-printed and after-polished PEEK substrates.Finally,the potential of this technique to fabricate 3D conformal electronics was demonstrated.

Deep learning Optical Character Recognition in PCB Dark Silk Recognition

For Automatic Optical Inspection (AOI) machines that were introduced to Printed Circuit Board market more than five years ago, illumination technique and light devices are outdated. Images captured by old AOI machines are not easy to be recognized by typical optical character recognition (OCR) algorithms, especially for dark silk. How to effectively increase silk recognition accuracy is indispensable for improving overall production efficiency in SMT plant. This paper uses fine tuned Character Region Awareness for Text Detection (CRAFT) method to build model for dark silk recognition. CRAFT model consists of a structure similar to U-net, followed by VGG based convolutional neural network. Continuous two-dimensional Gaussian distribution was used for the annotation of image segmentation. CRAFT model is good at recognizing different types of printed characters with high accuracy and transferability. Results show that with the help of CRAFT model, accuracy for OK board is 95% (error rate is 5%), and accuracy for NG board is 100% (omission rate is 0%).

Fully Connected Convolutional Neural Network in PCB Soldering Point Inspection

In Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) industry, Printed Circuit Board (PCB) inspection is tricky and hard, especially for soldering point inspection due to the extremely tiny size and inconsistent appearance for uneven heating in reflow soldering process. Conventional computer vision technique based on OpenCV or Halcon usually cause false positive call for originally good soldering point on PCB because OpenCV or Halcon use the pre-defined threshold in color proportion for deciding whether the specific soldering point is OK or NG (not good). However, soldering point forms are various after heating in reflow soldering process. This paper puts forward a VGG structure deep convolutional neural network, which is named SolderNet for processing soldering point after reflow heating process to effectively inspect soldering point status, reduce omission rate and error rate, and increase first pass rate. SolderNet consists of 11 hidden convolution layers and 3 densely connected layers. Accuracy reports are divided into OK point recognition and NG point recognition. For OK soldering point recognition, 92% is achieved. For NG soldering point recognition, 99% is achieved. The dataset is collected from KAGA Co. Ltd Plant in Suzhou. First pass rate at KAGA plant is increased from 25% to 80% in general.

Electrical and Electronic Waste in Northwest Mexico

The waste derived from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) is of interest now worldwide, in some countries due to the rapid technological development and in others due to technological dependence through the acquisition of second hand equipment. Therefore it is necessary to implement strategies for the sustainable management of electrical and electronic equipment at the end of its useful life. This paper presents the results of an investigation that was conducted in a city located in the Northwest of Mexico, which seeks to understand the management practices of household WEEE generators. A survey was applied to a representative sample of the population with a confidence level of 90%. Six home appliances were quantified and it was found that approximately 21% of them are disposed directly as part of the household flow of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), while 79% are storage for a latter sale, repair or reuse. The results obtained support the need to develop evaluations and to implement possible scenarios for the sustainable management of Electrical and Electronic Waste.

Electroplating for high aspect ratio vias in PCB manufacturing:enhancement capabilities of acoustic streaming

This paper considers the copper electrodeposit ion processes in microvias and investigates whether the quality of the electroplating process can be improved by acoustic streaming using megasonic transducers placed into a plating cell. The theoretical results show that acoustic streaming does not take place within the micro-via （either through or blind-via＇ s）, however it does help improve cupric ion transport in the area close to the mouth of a via. This replenishment of cupric ions at the mouth of micro-via leads to better quality filling of the micro-via through diffusion compared to basic conditions. Experiments showing the improved quality of the filling of vias are also presented.

Deformation behaviors of as-built and hot isostatically pressed Ti-6Al-4V alloys fabricated via electron beam rapid manufacturing

The deformation behavior of as-built and hot isostatically pressed(HIP)Ti-6Al-4V alloys fabricated using electron beam rapid manufacturing(EBRM)were investigated in this work.The deformation characteristics were characterized using a laser scanning confocal microscope and electron back-scattered diffraction(EBSD).In the as-built sample,prismatic slip was the main mode of deformation,as well as a small amount of basal slip and cross-slip.Some planar slip lines with large length scales were observed across severalαlamellae.After hot isostatical pressing,prismatic and basal slip were the main mode of deformation,accompanied by abundant cross-slip and multiple slip,and most of the slip lines were blocked within an a lamellae.These differences in deformation behavior were associated with the coarsening of a laths and the more retained p phase after HIP compared to the as-built alloy.More cross-slip and multiple slip can lead to superior elongation-to-failure and a greater strain hardening effect in the HIP alloy compared to the as-built sample.

Frontiers of 3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing: from Human Organs to Aircraft Fabrication

It has been more than three decades since stereolithography began to emerge in various forms of additive manufacturing and 3D printing. Today these technologies are proliferating worldwide in various forms of advanced manufacturing. The largest segment of the 3D printing market today involves various polymer component fabrications, particularly complex structures not attainable by other manufacturing methods.Conventional printer head systems have also been adapted to selectively print various speciated human cells and special molecules in attempts to construct human organs, beginning with skin and various tissue patches. These efforts are discussed along with metal and alloy fabrication of a variety of implant and bone replacement components by creating powder layers, which are selectively melted into complex forms（such as foams and other open-cellular structures） using laser and electron beams directed by CAD software. Efforts to create a ＂living implant＂ by bone ingrowth and eventual vascularization within these implants will be discussed briefly. Novel printer heads for direct metal droplet deposition as in other 3D printing systems are briefly described since these concepts will allow for the eventual fabrication of very large and complex products, including automotive and aerospace structures and components.

On Ti6Al4V Microsegregation in Electron Beam Additive Manufacturing with Multiphase-Field Simulation Coupled with Thermodynamic Data

Electron beam additive manufacturing is an effective method for the fabrication of complex metallic components.With rapid solidification,the characteristics of microsegregation within the interdendritic region are interesting and important for the subsequent phase transformation and final mechanical properties.However,in view of the microsecond lifetime and the small length scale of the molten pool,experimentally investigating microsegregation is challenging,even with electron probe micro-analysis.In this study,a multiphase-field model coupled with the real thermodynamic data of Ti6Al4V alloy was successfully developed and applied to simulate the rapid solidification of columnarβgrains via electron beam additive manufacturing.The thermal gradient(G)and cooling rate(R)were obtained from a 3D powder-scale multiphysics simulation and provided as inputs to a multiphase-field model.The eff ects of the electron beam process parameters and thermal conditions on the columnarβgrains were investigated.Liquid films and droplets were observed to have solute enrichment in the intercellular region.The size of the liquid film increased at a lower scanning speed and energy power.Increasing the scanning speed and energy power refined the columnarβgrains and decreased the liquid film size.The extent of microsegregation considerably increased at lower energy power,whereas the change in scanning speed had little eff ect on the microsegregation.The results also indicate that solute vanadium results in significant solute trapping and microsegregation during the rapid solidification of the Ti6Al4V alloy.