The consumer electronics market is a constantly changing market. Products such as smart phones, smart watches, tablets, and laptops are developing rapidly. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are scrambling to keep up with consumer demand: faster operating speeds, more features, and longer battery life.
For outer covers, casings and frames of such products, OEMs are looking for materials with strong aesthetics and design freedom, good impact resistance and high rigidity, low weight, thin-walled structure. In addition, cost-effective high-volume processing methods are needed to meet the production needs of tens of millions of units worldwide each year.
The feasibility study carried out by SABIC (Bergchen Op Zoom, the Netherlands) involved the use of two thermoplastic composite materials to produce laptop / tablet cases with a thickness of 1 mm. Studies have shown that hybrid thermoplastic composite design may be a viable solution for the challenging consumer electronics market.
The continuous fiber-reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) composite material under the Maezio brand of Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; Shanghai, China) was launched in October 2018 and has also attracted interest in the electronics industry. The product line includes unidirectional (UD) reinforced carbon fiber tape and sheets made of carbon fiber impregnated in polycarbonate (PC) matrix. According to Covestro, CFRTP can be adjusted for performance, aesthetics and economies of scale, and can be used in products in many industries. Maezio can perform thermoforming with higher productivity and shorter cycle times, which is said to reduce the cost of millions of parts per year. It can also integrate other production technologies, such as overmolding, automatic tape laying (ATL) and automatic fiber placement (AFP). The main advantage of Maezio is its adjustability. Only 120 microns thick UD carbon fiber tape can be laminated from different angles to form sheets that can be adjusted to meet various performance and mechanical standards. The resulting sheet is strong, hard, light, and has a natural one-way surface finish. In addition, CFRTP composite materials are recyclable.
Although the outer cover and outer casing have attracted widespread attention, the role of composite materials in internal electronic components cannot be ignored. For example, the Galaxy Note9 launched by Samsung (Seoul, South Korea) in 2018 uses a water-carbon cooling system, which is said to make mobile phones run more smoothly when used frequently. According to Samsung, the cooling system consists of a heat pipe or "radiator", and the water phase changes to effectively dissipate heat. First, the porous structure filled with water absorbs heat, then the water turns into steam and moves through the pipes. As the steam begins to cool and return to water, the process begins again. The Galaxy Note9 has a larger heat pipe than its predecessor and also benefits from a reinforced carbon fiber TIM (Thermal Interface Material), which is said to be able to transfer heat from the processor to the heat sink at 3.5 times the efficiency, thereby improving Improves thermal conductivity and helps prevent overheating.
In addition, for decades, fiberglass / epoxy laminates have become the basic structural substrate of printed circuit boards (PCBs). These iconic green thin "cards" support almost all core transistors, resistors and integrated circuits of digital technology, and are electrically connected by conductive paths etched or printed on their surfaces. Multi-layer PCBs are made by interweaving copper-clad (and etched) laminates with high resin content (HRC) prepreg layers and then pressed into an integrated structure. It is then drilled and plated with copper to form vias that connect the internal etched circuits. The core wire is used as a structural unit, and the HRC prepreg provides dielectric insulation between adjacent copper circuit layers.
According to industry sources, the global PCB market is expected to reach US $ 80.1 billion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.3% from 2018 to 2023. The market growth factors for the PCB market include the increasing adoption of automation in various end-user industries, the increased demand for wireless devices, the miniaturization of devices, the increased efficiency of interconnect solutions, and the increased demand for flexible circuits.
Fiberglass / epoxy resin`s dominance in the electronics market has been challenged because many of these trends (particularly miniaturization, better thermal management, improved speed and performance, and 3D printing) have forced PCB manufacturers to reexamine their materials select.