Conductive layer deposition and peel tests on biodegradable printed circuit boards

Biodegradable plastics are novel materials which can be degraded by organic methods. The aim of the work was to investigate the usability of a cellulose-acetate (CA) and a polylactide (PLA) based material as a printed circuit board (PCB) with conductive layer peel tests. The common types of conductive layer coating processes were proposed: copper foil lamination, copper electroplating and thick film conductive layer deposition. The paper focuses solely of copper foil lamination. The laminates were examined by optical microscopy. The copper layer peel tests were mainly used to determine the bonding strength of the conductive layer, according to the instructions of IPC-TM-650 standard. Future investigations will involve application and test of the other conductive layer deposition processes, also the possible soldering methods, and thermal stability of the biodegradable PCBs.