Structural Analysis of resin transfer molding of an entire PCBA

• 01 / 04 / 2025 

Encapsulation of electronics protects entire PCBAs against chamical cleaing as well as steam pressure sterilization in medical applications. However, the encapsulation process results in high loads applied to the solder Joints which are caused by curing, chemical shrinkage and thermal expansion of the thermoset. In the FFG funded project vPrimePCBA, together with Polymer Competence Center Leoben GmbH and Ottronic Regeltechnik Gesellschaft m.b.H. we develop a simulation process based on open-source software for the resin transfer molding (RTM) of entire PCBAs and investigate the impact of RIM on solder joints.

The animation shows the curing stage of a RTM process for a simplified generic PCBA assembled with chip resistors, MLCCs and QFNs. In the simulation we considered curing and temperature dependent material parameters, chemical shrinkage, and thermal expansion. The contour plot on the solder joints Shows the in-elastic strain.