Printed Circuit Board (PCB) can be classified into three categories if the criteria of classification were to be made the core material of the PCB. The Printed Circuit Board (PCB) are available in ceramic based core material, FR-series or fire retardant series of the core material and the Metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or most commonly known as MCPCB. The most commonly used Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is standard FR4 boards which have various fire retardant material as their core. FR4 or FR-4 is a NEMA used for the glass reinforced epoxy laminate material which is commonly used in standard Printed Circuit Board (PCB) used in the PCB industry.
Ceramic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or CPCBs
The second type of PCB is the ceramic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or the ceramic core PCBs. The ceramic PCBs are used for high temperature, pressure, frequency operations. They provide greater insulation and are highly reliable as compared with other type of the PCBs. The ceramic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) are mostly used for minor volume production of the electronic devices as for high volume production it is more economical to use the standard FR-4 type PCBs. The composition of ceramic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is usually alumina aluminum nitride and beryllium oxide. The conducting material used in ceramic Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is either copper or silver palladium.
Metal Core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or MCPCBs
The third type of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is the Metal Core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or MCPCB. The metal core PCBs have some metal as their core which mostly range from Aluminum, Copper and steel alloy. All three metal cores have either own advantages and are used for their specialized purposes. The aluminum core has greater heat transferring and dissipating capabilities and it is also relatively cheaper as compared with copper and silver.
Copper has better overall properties as compared with aluminum but it is more expensive. Steel is more rigid and provides greater stability to the core as compared with aluminum and copper but its conducting properties are inferior as compared with copper and aluminum. Making the comparison, it can be analyzed that aluminum is more suitable and economical to be used as compared with silver and copper, so most of the Metal Core Printed circuit boards make use of the aluminum core.
The metal core PCBs are also referred to as the metal backed PCBs, metal base or metal clad PCBs.
Advantages of Metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
The main advantage of Metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) over ceramic and FR-4 type of Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is their ability to dissipate heat more efficiently away from the components on the circuit board, hence in turn saving the components from overheating and damage. In most LED applications, metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is used because of its ability to dissipate heat generated in the LED circuitry. In this case if the heat were not properly dissipated, it would cause severe damage and output inefficiency for the system. In this case, the main purpose of the metal core is to dissipate the heat away from the board so as to protect the system.
The second advantage of the metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) over the other kind is their better coefficient of thermal expansion. Thermal expansion and contraction is the inherent nature of the material and most material suffer from it. The aluminum core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) on the other hand has greater ability to without such changes under severe circumstances.
The third bigger advantage of the metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is their dimensional stability. Even at high temperatures and severe conditions, the size change of the metal core PCB is minimal as compared with the other type of the PCBs.
Applications of Metal Core Printed Circuit Board (PCB)
The metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) are used in major applications such as LED lights, cars, amplifier and audio systems, printers, switching electronic devices.
The metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) is also further divided into five categories depending on the location of the metallic core and the layers of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB). The five categories are named as single layer, chip on board, double layer, double sided and multi layer metallic core Printed Circuit Board (PCB).
Our Advantage
At Synergise PCB Inc. we provide cutting edge solutions for your specific needs and we possess expertise in the field of metal core Printed Circuit Board (PCB) or MCPCBs.
