Thermomechanical Stress Analyses of Plated-Through Holes in PWB Using Internal State Variable Constitutive Models

Abstract

In application of multiaxial fatigue theories, extrapolation of concepts developed from uniaxial fatigue research must be used with caution. Previous related research on plated-through hole (PTH) fatigue investigations has been based on so-called effective stress/strain methods, which did not account for the fact that fatigue crack nucleation and growth is observed to occur on specifically oriented planes. Moreover, previous related thermal stress/strain analyses on PTH has been based on so-called bilinear constitutive relations for modeling copper plating with a linear kinematic hardening assumption, and this cannot capture many aspects of cyclic stress/strain behavior during thermal excursions. In this paper, thermal stress analyses using thermodynamics-based constitutive models of metallic consituents of PTHs are conducted by finite element package ABAQUS (1995) for multiaxial fatigue studies. Two types of PTHs (via) are investigated: ordinary empty PTH and PTH with solder filler. Two thermal profiles which simulate temperature fields in service are applied, with one experiencing the glass transition temperature of FR4. Residual stresses generated from previous process temperature history are considered. From the stress analyses, critical plane orientations for tensile type and shear type fatigue cracks are located.