PCB Tech - Do flexible circuit boards need a laser cutting machine?

According to foreign media reports, as of 2030, electronic components will account for 50% of the cost of most smart electronics fields. However, at the beginning of this century, its proportion was only 30%. With the increase in the number of components of various electronic products, packaging and weight have become issues that the manufacturing industry has to deal with. The birth of FPC flexible circuit board just solved this trouble.

As the circuit density and pitch of FPC products continue to increase, and the contours of FPC graphics are becoming more and more complex, this makes it more and more difficult to make FPC molds. Laser cutting of flexible circuit boards adopts numerical control processing, eliminating the need for mold processing, saving Mold opening cost; due to the lack of mechanical processing, which restricts the processing accuracy, the laser cutting flexible circuit board uses high-performance ultraviolet laser light source, which has good beam quality and better cutting effect; because the traditional processing technology is a contact machining method, It will inevitably produce processing stress on FPC, which may cause physical damage. Laser cutting of flexible circuit boards is non-contact processing, which effectively avoids damage and deformation of processed materials.

FPC laser cutting processing analysis

In the electronics industry, flexible circuit boards can be said to be the blood vessels for electronic products. Especially under the trend of lighter, thinner, miniaturized, wearable, and foldable electronic equipment, flexible circuit boards have the advantages of high wiring density, lightness, thinness, flexibility, and three-dimensional assembly, and are appropriately matched to market development trends. The demand is growing.

Traditional processing methods include die cutters, V-CUTs, milling cutters, stamping, etc., but this is a mechanical contact splitting process, which has stress, is prone to produce burrs, dust, and is not high in precision. Therefore, it is gradually affected by the laser cutting process. replace.

As a non-contact processing tool, FPC laser cutting machine can apply high-intensity light energy to a small focus. Such high energy can be used to laser cut, drill, mark, weld, and scribe materials. And other kinds of processing.

The coverage rate of FPC is extremely wide. The characteristics of this type of components are that the circuit boards and electronic systems can be bent, folded, and stretched, and their functions will not be affected by this. Coating conductive ink on the flexible surface, with the help of a mechanical device, used to manufacture flexible printing elements, and then make an electronic system.

For FPC cutting processing, the common traditional processing methods include die, V-CUT, milling cutter, stamping, etc., but this is a mechanical contact type of splitting process, which has stress, is easy to produce burrs, dust, and has insufficient precision. high.

. As the line density and pitch of FPC products continue to increase, and the contours of FPC graphics are becoming more and more complex, this makes it more and more difficult to make FPC molds;

. Due to the insufficiency of mechanical processing, the manufactured FPC mold cannot reach a high precision surface, which restricts the FPC processing accuracy;

. Since the traditional FPC cutting process is a contact machining method, it will inevitably produce processing stress on the FPC, which may cause physical damage to the FPC.

Beyond Laser's independent research and development of FPC flexible circuit board cutting machine, in addition to the functions of a laser cutting machine, it is also equipped with an automatic feeding/receiving system, which is more flexible in the daily use of enterprises: automatic feeding, automatic cutting, automatic counting, automatic Receiving materials and automatically changing models. A set of processes can all be processed with one-click, which greatly reduces the cost of manual operation, and can continue to work even during off-duty. Automatic fine cutting of flexible circuit boards, the core components of future flexible electronic equipment. Compared with traditional mechanical blanking, laser processing does not require any consumables, and the edge processing is more perfect. The speed can reach 3cm/s, which is equivalent to the blink of an eye. The length of the adult's little finger is over.

With the development of flexible electronic technology, various electronic products have emerged. The application of flexible electronics will drive a trillion-yuan market and assist traditional industries to increase the added value of the industry. Laser cutting machines will also help FPC flexible circuit boards in the processing field. Take off.