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Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102

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Journal of Materials Processing Technology
j our nal homepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ j mat pr ot ec
Application of magnetic pulse welding technique for exible printed circuit
boards (FPCB) lap joints
Tomokatsu Aizawa, Keigo Okagawa, Mehrdad Kashani

Tokyo Metropolitan College of Industrial Technology, 1-10-40, Higashi-Ohi, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 140-0011, Japan
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 6 September 2012
Received in revised form
26 November 2012
Accepted 10 December 2012
Available online 20 December 2012
Keywords:
Magnetic pulse welding (MPW)
Solid state bonding
Flexible printed circuit board (FPCB)
a b s t r a c t
The magnetic pulse welding (MPW) is a high speed solid state welding process which has been used
successfully to provide metallurgical and electrical bonds between exible printed circuit board (FPCB)
with using: (1) welding with aluminum driver sheet and (2) without driver sheet. The optimum bank
energy for reliable bonding was about 1kJ with 160180 kA maximum current. The maximum tensile
shearing for most welded samples was nearly same as tensile shearing strength of copper layer of FPCB
sheet.
2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Modern electronic devices are required to be thin, lightweight
and functionally sophisticated. Therefore, joining thin exible
printed circuit board (FPCB) in different shapes is receiving atten-
tion. FPCB and exible cables constructed from polyester or
polyimide lm and such lms are lightweight, exible and thin.
Varying circuit shapes, dimensions, circuit arrangements and dif-
ferent length cable arrangements may be constructed using FPCB.
However, a disadvantage to the use of FPCB is the bonding prob-
lems. Yoon et al. (2007) studied bonding characteristics of FPCB
using solder method and reported high electrical and mechanical
properties, while the excessive growth of intermetallic compounds
at the joint interface signicantly degrades the performance and
reliability of the solder joint. Maruo et al. (2004) investigated
adhesive-bonding methods using anisotropic conductive adhesive
or non-conductive adhesive for FPCB bonding but experimental
results showpoor electrical propertyandlowmechanical reliability
in joint interfaces. Unfortunately, the conventional boding meth-
ods for FPCB do not appear to provide an economical and reliable
solution to interconnection and construction challenges. The mag-
netic pulse welding (MPW) provides an excellent and high speed
method for achieving FPCB lap-joint. MPW uses magnetic pres-
sure to drive the primary metal against the target metal sweeping
away surface contaminants while forcing intimate metal-to-metal
contact, thereby producing a solid-state weld. Several technical

Corresponding author. Tel.: +81 47 375 7796; fax: +81 47 375 7795.
E-mail address: kashani@asrl.org (M. Kashani).
research papers has been reported about MPW for example Tamaki
and Kojima (1988) and Shribman et al. (2002) used conventional
MPW method with solenoidal coil for joining tubular parts and
investigated its feature. MPW has been theorized and tested for
several decades, but equipment limits the total energy stored and
this keeps weld lengths to the order of meters or less. Recently,
MPW applicationrapidly growing inindustrial applicationandnew
development make MPW method well suited for manufacture and
assembly in wide range of application. Shribman and Gafri (2001)
introduced MPW technique for tube to tube applications. They
studied the fundamental equations of MPW process and illustrated
some examples of similar and dissimilar weld applications with
some interface microstructures. Uhlmann et al. (2005) also studied
the applicability andthe potentials of MPW for joining of aluminum
and magnesium structure which is a new solutions for modern
lightweight structures applications. Daehn and Lippold (2009) also
proposedanewMPW deviceanddevelopedit for similar or dissimi-
lar thin sheet metal joints application. Recently, several works also
were carried out on application of MPW technique in electronics
micro-devices. For example, Kashani et al. (2008, 2009) developed
a new low energy MPW system which can be used for bonding
of wire to terminal plate in electronic devices or making small
Copper and Manganin alloys joint as a shunt resistor for using at
control circuits. The goal of this work was to introduce new low
energy system with modied coil structure for using MPW tech-
nique in FPCB lap-joints application which has not been reported
before. The present paper examines the detail of the welding pro-
cess and welds quality characteristics for FPCB lap-joints in two
cases: (1) with aluminum driver sheet and (2) without aluminum
driver sheet.
0924-0136/$ see front matter 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmatprotec.2012.12.004
1096 T. Aizawa et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102
Fig. 1. Principle of MPW technique.
2. Principle of MPW
Magnetic pulse welding (MPW) uses electromagnetic force to
accelerate one metal piece (base metal) against another stationary
metal piece (target sheet). Whena highmagnetic eld

B is suddenly
generatedandpenetratedinto metal sheets, thenthe eddy currents
(current density

i) pass through them and as a result, an electro-


magnetic force of

F =

i

B acts mainly on the base metal sheet and
it is accelerated away from the coil and collides rapidly with the
target metal sheet. The eddy current

i and the magnetic pressure p


are given as following:

i =

B
t

(1)
p =
(B
2
o
B
2
i
)
2
=

B
2
o
2

(1 e
2x/
) (2)
=

andk =
1

LC
(3)
where , , , B
o
and B
i
are the electrical conductivity, mag-
netic permeability, thickness, the magnetic ux density at lower
and upper surfaces of Al sheet, respectively. The depth of skin effect
() can be obtained by calculation of angular frequency () and it
is governed by the complete MPW systems inductivity L and its
capacity C. The skin depth becomes important parameter specially
for thin sheet metal bonding process. When the thickness of the
base sheet metal is the same as the skin depth, then magnetic pres-
sure equals 86% of its maximumvalue and it reaches 98% when the
base metal thickness is twice of the skin depth. The appropriate
skin depth and higher magnetic pressure can be adjusted by the
frequency of the discharge current.
At the moment of collision the colliding surfaces can be cleaned
by a large kinetic energy getting before the collision. The velocities
Fig. 2. Principle of welding process in case of using Al driver sheet: (a) before weld-
ing and (b) after welding.
attained during this process range from 200m/s to 500m/s and
the joining process completed within microsecond. Because of
the short impact period, the extent of heating might be minimal
along the joints. Therefore, comparing to the traditional fusion
welding process, no signicant heat affected zones is produced in
MPW joints and it can be noticed as a main advantage (Aizawa and
Yoshizawa, 2001; Aizawa and Kashani, 2004).
Kakizaki et al. (2010) found that the surface oxide of the metal
interfaces is disrupted due to the jet action and metallurgical bond-
ing is achieved between clean surfaces. As shown in Fig. 1, the
principle of MPW technique can be summarized into three steps:
(1) producing high magnetic eld, (2) acceleration of base metal,
and (3) impaction and bonding.
In the present experiment which has been carried out for FPBC
lap-joints application, the base and target metals are thin and light
and the skin depth is comparable with thickness of the FPBC copper
layer. Therefore, the impaction is weaker in comparing with thick
metal welding case. In this case, using Al driver sheet can increase
the electromagnetic force and magnetic pressure. The impaction
of Aluminumdriver sheet with FPCB layers can make a solid state
bonding betweenFPCBsheets. Fig. 2 shows the principle of welding
process with using the Al driver sheet. The result of second exper-
iment without using Al driver sheet also is reported in this paper
for better comparison.
3. Experimental setup
The block diagram of the discharge system is shown in Fig. 3
which is consisted of a capacitor bank (C) and a spark gap switch
(G) with a one layer E-shaped at coil. For optimizing the weld
quality, three capacitor banks with different energy storage capac-
ity were used in present experimental setup. The capacitor banks
(CB) descriptions weresummarizedinTable1. Thecapacitor bankis
connected to the gap-switch and one-turn coil by a lowinductance
transmission line.
3.1. General outlines of apparatus
Fig. 4 shows the general outlines of the magnetic pulse welding
apparatus. The coil was made by CrCu alloy. The main discharge
T. Aizawa et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102 1097
Fig. 3. Block diagramof discharge systemand appearance of discharge circuit.
Table 1
Electrical characteristics of MPW capacitor bank.
CB1 CB2 CB3
Charging voltage (kV) 13.5 9.1 6.3
Capacitor bank (F) 12 (26F) 24 (46F) 50 (225F)
Total energy (kJ) 1.1 1.0 1.0
Residual inductance (nH) 20 15 20
current pass through the middle part of coil and the width of this
part was designed to be 2.5mmand length of 40mm. The thickness
of E-shaped coil was 2mmand its inductance was measured about
0.039H. The thickness of Al driver was 0.3mm with size of
50mm50mm. The skin depth for a typical discharge in this Al
driver sheet was calculated by Eq. (2) and it was about 0.22mm.
This value is enough to prevent of melting of FPCB and apply big
Fig. 4. General outlines of apparatus: (a) plan view of coil geometry and dis-
charge circuit; CB, capacitor bank; G, gap switch. (b) Cross section view of the
coil-containing lap of FPCB sheets with Al driver sheet.
electromagnetic force to Al driver sheet for rapid collision with
FPCB and producing a solid state boding.
3.2. FPCB sample
A typical FPCB samples and its dimensional size which were
used in present experiment are shown in Fig. 5a. Three types of
FPCB sheet (W1, W5 and W10) which almost is used in industrial
applications was chosen in present experiment. The size of FPCB
sheet is 40mm40mm and the width of copper rows are 1mm,
5mmand 10mmfor W1, W5 and W10, respectively. The cross sec-
tion viewof all FPCB sheet layers are same and are shown in Fig. 5b.
The total thickness of FPCB is about 110mand the polyimide lm
layer cover only 30mmof copper foil and10mmof that is uncoated
(welding zone).
4. Experimental results and discussion
4.1. Current signal and collision speed
All three different capacitor banks system (CB1, CB2 and CB3)
was tested to get the optimum results. The best results were
obtained with CB2 system. The minimum joule heating effect and
also smallest deformation on FPCB sheets was observed by CB2
system which had a lower total inductance and faster discharge.
Typical current waveform (top signal) and also the signal of col-
lision speed circuit (bottom signal) for CB2 system are shown in
Fig. 6. This current signal was obtained at 1.0kJ discharge by using
a magnetic probe. The current signal shows that a damping and
oscillating current ows through a one-turn coil for the duration of
about 50s and the discharge frequency was about 133kHz. The
maximumcurrent and maximummagnetic ux density were mea-
sured about 160kA and 23T at 1.0kJ discharge in case of using Al
driver sheet. The maximummagnetic pressures were calculated by
Eq. (2) and it was about 200MPa for the same discharge.
In order to measure the time of collision and also the collision
speedof thealuminumdriver sheet just beforewelding, verysimple
circuit is preparedtomeasurethetimetravelingof thebasemetal in
gap distance which is exist between two FPCB sheets before weld-
ing. The detail of this circuit is reported in pervious work (Aizawa
et al., 2007). The time between starting discharge and nal phase
of welding was approximately about 1.7s and the maximumcol-
lision speed of Al driver sheet just before welding is calculated to
be 380m/s.
4.2. Effect of gap between FPCB sheets before welding
The collision speed has a relation with the bank energy and
the discharge current and the maximum collision speed can be
1098 T. Aizawa et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102
Fig. 5. Typical FPCB samples which were used in present experiment:(a) width of copper rows are 1mm, 5mmand 10mmfor W1, W5 and W10 sheet, respectively; and (b)
cross section of FPCB sheet with fabrication material layer thickness.
obtained at the rst maximumin the current signal. Therefore, by
inserting the appropriate gap distance between sample sheets, the
collision time can be nearly same as quarter period of the current
signal at the rst maximum current peak. The optimum gap dis-
tance has relationwiththe capacitor bank energy andthe discharge
system inductance. However, our experimental result shows that
0.4mm, gap distance between FPCB sheets is necessary for achiev-
ing high weld quality. On other hand, the surfaces of FPCB sheet
can be melted because of high Eddy current and increasing of Joule
heating effect in case of samples without inserting gap between
them(Fig. 7).
Fig. 6. Typical current signal at 1.0kJ discharge(topsignal) andthe signal of collision
time (bottomsignal).
4.3. Microstructure of joined interface
Fig. 8 shows the lap-joints of three types of FPCB sheets. The
width of the weld zone was nearly equal to the middle part of
the coil (b=2.5mm). The welded area has concentrated into two
lines with 0.6mmwideness along of middle part of coil and no heat
affected area was observed in polyimide substrate. The lap-joints
of W5-FPCB and W10-FPCB sheets divided to several parts for the
optical microscope observations andalso for shearing strengthtest.
The divided test parts were polished for observing the joined
interface. Fig. 9 shows the optical microscope images of the welded
area. Theseoptical images showtheweldedzonewas formedintwo
parts with approximately 2mm apart. The pictures show a wavy
transition layer without any signicant heat-affected zone or any
crack on copper layer is formed in welded zone. The scanning ion
microscopic (SIM) image of welding interface also shows a ne-
grain microstructure at interface layer.
4.4. Electrical resistances of lap-joints
The electrical resistance of FPCB lap-joint was measured by a
digital micro-ohmmeter using KELVIN-TYPE (4-WIRES) method.
The measurement setup was shown in Fig. 10. It is necessary to
remove polyimide lms and adhesive materials fromwelded sam-
ple before resistance measurement. The micro-ohmmeter probes
should be connected near lap-joint on copper sheet. The bond-
ing resistance of FPCB lap-joints was measured less than 10
for W5 samples and this value is enough low for micro electronic
applications.
4.5. Tensile shear test
Welded samples were investigated on a standard tensile shear
testing machine at test rate of 10mm/min. The tensile shearing
strength of each welded samples (W1, W5 and W10) were mea-
sured and compared with results of no-welded samples (Fig. 11).
T. Aizawa et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102 1099
Fig. 7. Typical FPCB samples (E=1.0kJ; I =200kA; driver: 0.3mmAl sheet): (a) without gap and (b) with 0.4mmgap.
Fig. 8. Lap-joints of W1, W5 and W10-FPCB sheets sample.
Based on the shearing strength test results, it can be obtained that
the maximum tensile shearing of welded sample is little smaller
than tensile shearing strength of no-welded FPCB sheet.
The maximum tensile shearing for most welded samples was
nearly same as tensile shearing strength of copper layer of FPCB
sheet and failure always occurred near of welded line (Fig. 12).
4.6. Comparison of results for two cases
The feasibility of MPW technique without using Aluminum
driver sheet was investigated and compared with result of Al driver
case. In this case, the skin depth is higher than the thickness of the
copper layer inFPCBsheet andit is necessarytoadjust theappropri-
ate current discharge frequency and increase the total bank energy
for obtaining enoughhighmagnetic pressure comparing withusing
Al driver case. However, the maximum current should be limited
to prevent frommelting of thin copper layer of FPCB sheet. Several
modications should be considered for reliable welding without
using Al driver sheet. The width of middle part of coil was modied
to 1mm to improve eddy current paths and concentration of the
magnetic pressure in small area of copper layer. The thickness of
coil also was increased to 10mmfor improving the lifetime of coil
against mechanical shock of discharge pulse. The maximum dis-
charge current and the maximumof magnetic ux density at 1.1kJ
discharge were measured about 180kA and 30T, respectively. The
maximum magnetic pressures were calculated about 143MPa for
the same discharge. The maximum tensile shearing was obtained
about 110120N for successful welded samples which is a little
Table 2
Comparison of the typical results and welding process parameters for two cases: (1)
with Al driver; (2) without Al driver.
With Al driver sheet Without Al driver sheet
Bank capacitance (F) 24 (46F) 12 (26F)
Bank inductance (H) 0.018 0.021
Coil inductance (H) 0.041 0.032
Total inductance (H) 0.059 0.053
Charging energy (kJ) 1.0 1.1
Charging voltage (kV) 9.1 13.5
Max. current (kA) 160 180
Coil dimension (see Fig. 4) a =40mm; b=2.5mm;
t =2mm
a =60mm; b=1mm;
t =10mm
Discharge current
frequency (kHz)
133 200
Collision time (s) 1.7 1.5
Maximumcollision speed
(m/s)
380 330
Max. magnetic ux density
(T)
23 30
Max. magnetic pressure
(MPa)
200 143
Al driver thickness (mm) 0.3
Skin depth (mm) 0.22(Al driver sheet) 0.15(Cu layer of FPCB)
Gap distance (mm) 0.4 0.4
Bonding resistance () 10 10
Average tensile strength
(N)
130140 110120
1100 T. Aizawa et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102
Fig. 9. Optical microscope and SIMimages of the welded area in FPCB lap-joint.
T. Aizawa et al. / Journal of Materials Processing Technology 213 (2013) 10951102 1101
Fig. 10. Bonding resistance measurement for FPCB lap-joint using KELVIN-TYPE (4-WIRES) method.
Fig. 11. Tensile strength of welded and no welded samples.
Fig. 12. Typical rupture of FPCB lap-joint sample which made by using Al driver
sheet.
smaller than Al driver case. The wavy transition pattern was not so
clear in optical microscope observations in this case. For a better
comparison of results in both cases, the other typical results and
welding process parameters are summarized in Table 2.
5. Summary and conclusions
In this work, MPW process was investigated for FPCB lap-joint
application in two cases: (1) with Al driver; (2) without Al driver
and the main results are summarized a follows:

FPCB sheet can be successfully welded in both cases and the opti-
mum bank energy for reliable bonding was about 1.01.1kJ.

The welded area inFPCBlap-joint has concentrated into two lines


with 0.6mm wideness along of middle part of coil.

The welded zone has a good joint quality without any damage or
heat affect in polyimide substrates of FPCB.

The deformation of lap-joint is also small for welded samples


using Al driver sheet.

The maximumtensile shearing was obtained around 110140N


for successful welded samples for both cases and it was nearly
same as tensile shearing strength of copper layer of FPCB sheet

The gap distance between FPCB sheets before welding has very
important effect onwelding quality andits optimumwas 0.4mm.

The optical microscope and SIM images of the welded area also
show that transition layer was formed without any signicant
heat-affected zone (HAZ). But the wavy transition layer was
formed only for samples which were made by using Al driver
sheet and this wavy structure was not clear for lap-joint samples
without using Al driver sheet.

Application of MPW process without using driver sheet may be


restricted to a particular type of FPCB sheet because of many lim-
itations for adjusting eddy current, magnetic pressure and skin
depth in very thin copper layer of FPCB sheet. It can be conclude
this case is more applicable for FPCB sheets with thicker copper
layer.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to express thanks to Mr. K. Hanasaki and Mr.
Y. Sugiyama of Yazaki Corporation for the observation of joined
interfaces.
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