j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 1 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 746750

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jmatprotec

Finite element modeling and simulation for bending

analysis of multi-layer printed circuit boards
using woven ber composite

L. Li a , S.M. Kim b , S.H. Song c , T.W. Ku b , W.J. Song d , J. Kim b ,

M.K. Chong e , J.W. Park e , B.S. Kang b,
a ERC/NSDM, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, South Korea
b Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, South Korea
c National Core Research Center for Hybrid Materials Solution, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, South Korea
d Industrial Liaison Innovation Cluster, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, South Korea
e HDI R&D Group, Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. Ltd., Busan 618-721, South Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Keywords: As the electronic products are desired to have many functions with low weight and small size
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) increasingly, the ultra-thin and multi-layer printed circuit boards (PCBs) are required to be
Finite element model used extensively in electronic packaging assemblies. Usually, these multi-layer PCBs consist
Multi-layer of multiple layers of woven glass ber reinforced epoxy resin composite substrate sand-
Woven ber wiched between copper foils. The mechanical properties of these multi-layer PCBs can be
Bending stiffness represented basically by their bending stiffness. However, complex woven composite mate-
rial properties complicate the bending stiffness analysis. In this research, a nite element
analysis model was suggested to describe the bending behavior of woven ber compos-
ite multi-layer PCB. Both nite element simulation and experiment were employed in this
study. Since the small discrepancy between the numerical simulation and experimental
results was obtained, the availability of this nite element model was conrmed by com-
parison with each other. And also the effects of woven ber composite material properties
of the multi-layer PCB on the bending phenomenon were investigated.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction as compared with single and double-sided PCBs (Tummala,

Multi-media portable electronic products such as personal
digital assistance and cellular phone are increasingly desired
to be lighter and smaller size with more functions. To sat-
isfy these requirements, the circuit density of printed circuit
boards (PCBs) has also been required to increase. Then, the
multi-layer PCBs, which can support more complicated chips
2001), are used extensively. These multi-layer PCBs generally
consist of multiple layers of woven glass ber reinforced epoxy
resin (glass ber/epoxy) substrate sandwiched between copper
foils. To ensure no failure for the electronic product compo-
nents, which are set on these multi-layer PCBs, the deection
of PCBs should be controlled in a small range. Bending stiff-
ness is the representative parameter among the mechanical

Corresponding author at: Department of Aerospace Engineering, Pusan National University, San 30, Jangjeon-dong, Geumjeong-gu, Busan
609-735, South Korea. Tel.: +82 51 510 3691; fax: +82 51 514 3690.
E-mail addresses: lile@pusan.ac.kr (L. Li), sm kim@pusan.ac.kr (S.M. Kim), coolboys3355@naver.com (S.H. Song), longtw@pusan.ac.kr
(T.W. Ku), woodysong@pusan.ac.kr (W.J. Song), greatkj@pusan.ac.kr (J. Kim), yarri.chong@samsung.com (M.K. Chong),
jongwon0203.park@samsung.com (J.W. Park), bskang@pusan.ac.kr (B.S. Kang).
0924-0136/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2007.11.190
 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 1 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 746750 747

properties of PCBs to evaluate their structural reliability and form a thread, then these thread subsequently woven to pro-
performance. Therefore, the bending stiffness analysis for the duce the glass fabric. The mesh of the fabric depends upon the
multi-layer PCBs plays an important role in the electronic spacing of the threads. The spacing is often different for the
packaging design. Several studies in PCB, which concerned two orthogonal directions, which are called warp yarns and ll
numerical analysis about layer structure and material char- yarns that are vertical to the warp. One of the most common
acteristic, have been carried out. The rst solution for the glass fabric used for PCBs is type 7628 (FR-4). Therefore, the
behavior of bonded material with the mismatched mechanical material properties of each glass ber/epoxy layer, which was
properties, based on beam theory, was given by Timoshenko used for the multi-layer PCBs, are orthotropic. In most general
(1925). The problem in the edge effects was analyzed by Aleck case, the strainstress relationship is related as follows:
(1949), the elastic one contained in the solutions (Lee and
Jasiuk, 1991), and the problem was discussed with nite ele- i = Sij j , i, j = 1, . . . , 6 (1)
ment method by Lau (1989). From a few concrete reports by
using nite element analysis (FEA), PCBs had been represented For the orthotropic material, the number of independent
by isotropic models (Yang et al., 2000; Wu et al., 2002; Wang elastic constants can be reduced to nine when the refer-
et al., 2003). However, the mechanical properties of the lam- ence system of coordinates is selected along principal planes
inate PCBs are different in the orthogonal directions with of material symmetry (Jones, 1975). Then the strainstress
the plane of PCBs (Moore and Jarvis, 2002). Therefore, rele- relationship in terms of the engineering constants, Youngs
vant works have been done in which the laminate PCBs were moduli Ei (i = 1, 2, 3), Poissons ratios ij (i, j = 1, 2, 3), and shear
recognized as orthotropic plate in material properties (Lee, moduli Gij (i, j = 1, 2, 3), which can be measured in simple tests
2000; Lau, 1998; Wang et al., 2006). However, the multi-layer such as uniaxial tension or pure shear tests is expressed as
PCBs were simplied imprecisely by using both isotropic and following equations:
orthotropic models in these analyzes. Hence, these modeling
methods result in a limited investigation on the detailed effect 1 21 31
0 0 0
for the multi-layer and multi-material PCBs (Flatt, 1992; Zhu 1E E 2 E3
12 1 32
et al., 2003; Brown and Sottos, 1998). The aim of this study 0 0 0
E1 E2 E3
is to develop more accurate and reliable nite element anal- 
ysis model to describe the bending behavior of woven ber 13 23 1
0
E1 E2 E3
0 0
composite multi-layer PCB and to investigate the effect of [Sij ] =


(2)
1
woven ber composite material properties to multi-layer PCB. 0 0 0 0 0
G23
In this study, a nite element analysis model was suggested to
0 1
describe the bending behavior of woven ber composite multi- 0 0 0
G31
0

layer PCB. Both nite element simulation and experiment were 1
employed. Since the small discrepancy between the numer- 0 0 0 0 0
G12
ical simulation and experimental results was obtained, the
availability of this nite element model was conrmed by
comparison with each other. And also the effects of woven 3. Experiments
ber composite material properties of the multi-layer PCB on
the bending phenomenon were investigated. For the multi-layer PCB, the bending stiffness is the represen-
tative parameter among the mechanical properties that reect
the laminated structure performance. In this study, in order to
2. Material characteristics analyze the composite material behavior for multi-layer PCB,
the bending stiffness of the laminated multi-layer PCB was
Generally, multi-layer PCBs consist of multiple layers woven measured by the 3-point bending test. A schematic drawing of
glass ber/epoxy composite substrate sandwiched between the benting test is shown in Fig. 1(a).
copper foils. The woven glass fabric is usually produced from Two kinds of the multi-layer PCBs were fabricated and
long glass bers or laments. To make woven glass fabric, a conducted in the 3-point bending test. Both of these sam-
large number of laments are bunched together and twisted to ples have the same geometrical dimensions, layer structures

Fig. 1 The 3-point bending test: (a) schematic conguration and (b) proles of retaining forces.
748 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 1 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 746750

cial engineering simulation software, ABAQUS was used. It

Table 1 Material properties
has not only an extensive library of elements to support the
Material E1 (GPa) E2 (GPa) G12 (GPa) 12  (kg/m3 ) complicated multi-layer structure, but also an extensive list
FR-4 22 22 3.5 0.28 1940 of material models that can describe the behavior of typical
Copper 103 103 39.7 0.33 8940 engineering materials including metals, rubber, polymers and
the composites (ABAQUS, 2004).
According to the symmetry condition of the multi-layer
Table 2 Thickness of each layer in the samples PCBs, the half of the actual test sample was modeled, as shown
in Fig. 2(a). The XYZ-coordinate system was set to the PCBs
Layer 1.0 T (mm) 0.8 T (mm)
principal material direction system, as 123-coordinate sys-
FR-4 0.04 0.04 tem. Thus, the length direction of PCBs was along X-direction
FR-4 0.04 0.04 and the width direction along Y-direction. In this model, the
FR-4 0.11 0.04
boundary conditions were assigned as simply supported and
CCL 0.10 0.08
symmetry about X-plane, respectively. The mechanical load-
FR-4 0.11 0.06
CCL 0.10 0.08 ing was modeled in the same manner of the actual test, as
FR-4 0.11 0.04 shown in Fig. 2(a).
FR-4 0.04 0.04 The shell element is used to this model since the total
FR-4 0.04 0.04 thickness of the multi-layer PCB is extraordinarily smaller
than the other dimensions. The shell section was used to
dene its layer structure, material type and orientation of
and materials as the actual PCBs used for cellular phone. But each layer. Each woven glass ber/epoxy layer in the nite ele-
the thickness of two kinds of samples is different from each ment model was sub-divided into two thin layers as shown
other as 1.0 mm (1.0 T) and 0.8 mm (0.8 T). They were lami- in Fig. 2(b), to describe the bending deformation behavior of
nated through vacuum press (V-press) and then were cut in the woven ber fabric effectively because the woven glass
50 mm 30 mm by router. Material properties of the conven- fabric was made of two ber bundles in two orthogonal
tional FR-4 (woven glass ber/epoxy) and copper, which were directions. The ll and warp direction bers were given 0
used for preparing the test samples, are shown in Table 1. and 90 orientation, respectively. Table 3 shows the informa-
The thickness of each layer is indicated in Table 2. The CCL tion about the nite element models of several laminated
means copper clad laminates, and the thickness of each structures in the manner as shown in Fig. 2(b). In order to
copper layer which was placed between each FR-4 layers is perform the numerical simulation for the 3-point bending
12 m. test, the mechanical loading was set to be changed linearly
During the bending test operation, the retaining force was from 0 to the actual test value at 1 min. The maximum load-
measured when the sample was pushed until 5 mm with ing forces of the 1.0 T layer and 0.8 T layer models were
5 mm/min falling speed. The proles of retaining forces, when set to be 99.3 N and 47.7 N, respectively, which were the
the deection is reached at 5 mm, are shown in Fig. 1(b). It same as the actual test results. Each of the nite element
was shown that the retaining force increased nearly in pro- multi-layer PCB model was meshed with 195 quadrilateral
portion to deection for each test sample. When 1.0 T and 0.8 elements and 642 nodes. The simulation results of the 1.0
T were bent to 5 mm, the induced forces were 99.3 N and 47.7 N, T layer model are shown in Fig. 3, and the distribution of
respectively. deection is shown in Fig. 3(a) and (b). The deections of
these two models were 4.997 mm and 4.992 mm, respectively.
Both of them are very similar with the deection of 5 mm
4. Finite element analysis in the actual bending test. The error rates of the simulation
results, 0.06% and 0.16%, are very small and show the high
In order to develop the nite element analysis model for the reliability of this nite element model and the simulation
multi-layer PCB with the woven ber composite, the commer- method.

Fig. 2 Numerical analysis for the 3-point bending test: (a) nite element model for PCBs and (b) layer model and ber
orientation.
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Table 3 Model denitions with glass ber ll and wrap characteristic

FR-4 Model layer

T (mm) M T (mm) T (mm) M D ( ) Vf

0.04 Woven type 0.04 0.02 Uni-direction type 0 0.52

0.02 Uni-direction type 90 0.4

T: thickness; M: material; D: direction; Vf : ber volume fraction.

Fig. 3 Simulation results of 1.0 T model: (a) distribution of the deection and (b) side view of the deformed conguration.

5. Parametric study

The fabric type laminated composite which is used in the PCB

manufacturing industry is normally unbalanced, i.e. the warp
and ll directions include different numbers of ber bundles or
different size of ber diameter. Because of the variation of the
ber bundle size, the geometry of the undulating ber bundles
is different and depends on the fabric styles. Hence, the com-
posite substrates with different fabric styles have different
material properties, and even the same fabric style might have
different properties in the warp and ll directions. Therefore,
the different ber volume fraction and weave-style will alter
the material properties of the glass ber/epoxy multi-layered
PCBs. In order to evaluate the effects of the ber volume frac-
tion and weave-style to the multi-layer PCBs, several nite
element models were constructed. The ber volume fraction
and weave-style of each model are shown in Table 4. The Fig. 4 Bending stiffness ratios of all nite element models.
same mechanical loading was used in the numerical simula-
tions of these nite element models. To compare their bending
stiffnesses clearly, the bending stiffness ratio of model 1 is nearly the same. At the same time, the model 6 also has much
assigned 1. Then, the bending stiffness ratios of other models higher bending stiffness ratio than the model 5, although total
are 1.1, 1.15, 1.08, 1.13, and 1.36 as shown in Fig. 4, orderly. ber volume fractions are the same. It is noted that the ber
Compared with these results, it is shown that the higher ber volume fraction in ll direction is more important than that
volume fraction in ll direction can enhance the bending stiff- in wrap direction. Based on this inference, it is easy to under-
ness of woven glass ber/epoxy multi-layer PCB. The model stand that the bending stiffness ratio of the model 3 is higher
3 has a higher bending stiffness ratio than that of model 2, than that of the model 5, even if the model 3 has a lower total
even if the total ber volume fractions of these two models are ber volume fraction than that of the model 5. Therefore, the
ber volume fraction in ll direction of woven glass fabric is
the key factor to enhance the bending stiffness of woven glass
ber/epoxy multi-layer PCB.
Table 4 Fiber volume fraction and weave-style of each
nite element model
Model number
6. Conclusions
1 2 3 4 5 6
The main aim of this research focuses on the development
0 direction Vf 0.52 0.6 0.66 0.6 0.6 0.75
of the nite element model to describe the bending behavior
90 direction Vf 0.4 0.6 0.52 0.4 0.75 0.6
Total Vf 0.46 0.6 0.59 0.5 0.68 0.68 of woven ber composite multi-layer PCB accurately, and the
evaluation on the effect of the factors which can inuence the
750 j o u r n a l o f m a t e r i a l s p r o c e s s i n g t e c h n o l o g y 2 0 1 ( 2 0 0 8 ) 746750
bending stiffness of the multi-layer PCB. The material charac-
teristics of woven ber composite material were investigated
and, two kinds of woven ber composite multi-layer PCB
samples were prepared and tested using the 3-point bending
test. Subsequently, two relevant nite element models were
constructed and simulated by using the software ABAQUS.
To describe the woven ber more accurately, each woven
composite layer in the nite element multi-layer PCB model
consisted of two layers, the ll layer and the wrap layer. By
comparing the deections of these two simulation models
with the experiment ones, the small error rates, 0.06% and
0.16%, were obtained. Then the availability and reliability
of this nite element model were validated. Following this
modeling method, the nite element models of the woven
ber composite multi-layer PCBs were built and simulated
additionally. Through analyzing the results of these models,
it was concluded that the high ber bundles in ll direction
of woven ber fabric can enhance the bending stiffness of
the multi-layer PCBs. These research results are of practical
use and play an important role in the increasing requirement
of reducing the PCBs thickness and enhancing the PCBs
bending stiffness in nowadays printed circuit board industry.
Acknowledgements
This work has been completed with the support of the fos-
tering project of the Laboratory of Excellency by the Ministry
of Education and Human Resources Development, the Min-
istry of Commerce, Industry and Energy and the Ministry of
Labor. The fth author would like to acknowledge the support
of Pusan National University Research Grant in 2006, and the
last author would like to thank the partial support by grants-
in-aid for the National Core Research Center Program from
MOST/KOSEF (no. R15-2006-022-02002-0).
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