Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to form good cutting qualities of glass-epoxy material for opening flexible areas of rigid-flex printed circuit board (PCB) by ultra violet (UV) laser cutting. Design/methodology/approach - Cut width and cut depth of glass-epoxy material were both observed to evaluate the cutting qualities of glass-epoxy material. Heat affected zone (HAZ)of glass-epoxy material was also investigated after UV laser cutting. The relationship between cut width and parameters of factors were analyzed by orthogonal experimental design. Findings - Cut width of the glass-epoxy material gradually increased with the increment of the laser power and Z-axis height while cutting speed and laser frequency performed less effects on the cut width. Optimal parameters of UV laser process for cutting glass-epoxy material were obtained as laser power of 6W, cutting speed of 170 mm/s, laser frequency of 50 kHz and Z-axis height of 0.6mm, resulting in an average cut width of 25µm and small HAZ. Originality/value - Flexible areas of rigid-flex PCB are in good agreement with cutting qualities of UV laser. UV laser process could have important potential applications for cutting glass-epoxy material in PCB industry.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to form good cutting qualities of glass-epoxy material for opening flexible areas of rigid-flex printed circuit board (PCB) by ultra violet (UV) laser cutting. Design/methodology/approach - Cut width and cut depth of glass-epoxy material were both observed to evaluate the cutting qualities of glass-epoxy material. Heat affected zone (HAZ)of glass-epoxy material was also investigated after UV laser cutting. The relationship between cut width and parameters of factors were analyzed by orthogonal experimental design. Findings - Cut width of the glass-epoxy material gradually increased with the increment of the laser power and Z-axis height while cutting speed and laser frequency performed less effects on the cut width. Optimal parameters of UV laser process for cutting glass-epoxy material were obtained as laser power of 6W, cutting speed of 170 mm/s, laser frequency of 50 kHz and Z-axis height of 0.6mm, resulting in an average cut width of 25µm and small HAZ. Originality/value - Flexible areas of rigid-flex PCB are in good agreement with cutting qualities of UV laser. UV laser process could have important potential applications for cutting glass-epoxy material in PCB industry.
