What is the Standard of Aluminum PCB Thermal Conductivity？

October 12. 2022

Aluminum is one alternative material that can be used in the core of a PCB, commonly referred to using the misnomer “aluminum PCN”. Using aluminum as the metal core in a PCB allows it to easily dissipate heat away from active components thanks to its high thermal conductivity. The high thermal conductivity of aluminum or another metal in the core of a PCB allow heat to be distributed more uniformly throughout a board.

Double Sided Aluminum PCB

What are the benefits of aluminum PCB?

Environmentally Friendly

Aluminum is non-toxic and recyclable. Manufacturing with aluminum is also conducive to conserving energy due to its ease of assembly. For printed circuit board suppliers, using this metal helps maintain the health of our planet.

Heat dissipation

High temperatures can cause severe damage to electronics, so it is wise to use a material that can help dissipate heat. Aluminum can actually transfer heat away from vital components, thus minimizing the harmful effect it could have on the circuit board.

Higher durability

Aluminum provides strength and durability to a product that ceramic or fiberglass bases cannot. Aluminum is a sturdy base material that can reduce accidental breakage during manufacturing, handling, and everyday use.

Lightweight

For its incredible durability, aluminum is a surprisingly lightweight metal. Aluminum adds strength and resilience without adding on any additional weight.

What is standard of aluminum PCB thermal conductivity？

The thermal conductivity of Aluminum Core PCB, is an aluminum substrate thermal performance parameter, which is one of the three major criteria for measuring the quality (the other two properties are the thermal resistance value and the withstand voltage value ).

The thermal conductivity of the aluminum substrate can be tested after lamination. At present, the high thermal conductivity is generally ceramics, copper, etc. However, the cost of ceramics and copper is high. So the most widely used is the aluminum substrate, which is a unique metal-based copper-clad aluminum substrate with good thermal conductivity, electrical insulation and mechanical properties.

Heat dissipation

The multilayer pcb board has high density and high power, It is difficult to dissipate heat.

The conventional PCB substrates, such as FR4, CEM3, are thermal poor conductors. The local heating of the electronic equipment is not solved, resulting in high temperature and the electronic components will burn out. But the aluminum substrate can solve this heat dissipation problem.

Thermal expansion

Thermal expansion and contraction are the common nature of matter, and the thermal expansion coefficients of different substances are different. The aluminum-based PCB can effectively solve the heat dissipation problem, thereby alleviating the thermal expansion and contraction of different materials on the printed board, and improving the durability and reliability of the whole machine and the electronic equipment. In particular, it solves the problem of thermal expansion and contraction of SMT (Surface Mount Technology).

Dimensional stability

Aluminum core PCB is clearly much more stable than printed boards of insulating materials, which is heated from 30 ° C to 140 ~ 150 ° C, and the dimensional change is 2.5 ~ 3.0%.

Applications of Aluminum PCB

Power Hybrid IC

Audio Frequency Apparatus

Input / Output Amplifier, Balanced Amplifier, Pre-amplifier, Audio amplifier

Power supply device: Switch regulator, DC/AC Converter, Switch regulator

Communication electronic equipment: High frequency generator, Filter appliance, Transmission circuit

Office automation equipment: Motor drive

Automotive: Electronic regulator, Igniter, Power controller

Computer: CPU board, Floppy disk drive, Power supply unit

Power module: Converter, Solid relay, Rectifier bridge

Lamp lighting: All kinds of energy-saving and gorgeous LED lights

Bicheng devote to supplying PCBs over 18 years with stable and strict quality gurantee, which service cellular base station antenna, satellite, high frequency passive components, microstrip line and band line circuit, millimeter wave equipment, radar system, digital radio frequency antenna and other fields wordwide. We are mainly providing high frequency PCBs which built on 3 high frequency material brands: Rogers Corporation, Taconic and Wangling. Dielectric constant ranges from 2.2 to 10.2 etc.