Strain Measurement on Printed Circuit Boards - Demo Video

Consumers expect a quality product, but today, reliability of electronics devices is increasingly related to our safety. Considering the recent developments of self-driving vehicles, Internet of Things (IoT) devices which control and safeguard our homes, and avionics in the aircraft in which we travel, reliability takes on a new level of importance. For many years, strain measurement has been an important element in the design and testing of electronic devices. The widespread use of lead-free solder, with its typically higher modulus and brittleness than the leaded varieties of solders that it replaced, means that more strain is transferred to the electronic components. High-density ball-grid arrays (BGA) and generally smaller surface mount components have led to smaller solder footprints. While these developments in electronics manufacturing allow increasingly smaller devices, it also means that the printed circuit board assemblies are more sensitive and require proper support during manufacturing and installation to avoid failures of solder connections or of the components.