Analysis of experimental shock and impact response data of a printed wire board

There is considerable reported evidence that a large percentage of portable electronics product failure is due to impact or shock during use. Failures of the external housing, internal electronic components, package-to-board interconnects, and liquid crystal display panels may occur as the result of dropping. For many orientations of drop, the Printed Wire Board (PWB) will flex significantly during the impact event and subsequent clattering. Reducing the curvature and acceleration of the PWB during impact is an integral part of the design strategy for such products. This paper investigates the response of a PWB subjected to drop and shock tests through a combination of an analytical model, explicit dynamic Finite Element Analysis (FEA), and experimentation. A test vehicle consisting of a double-sided copper clad laminate PWB, mounted as a double cantilever, is used as a basis for the investigation. A free fall drop-test system is used to represent the drop scenario, and a vibration/shock system is used to impart shocks to the test vehicle. Measurements from strain gages and accelerometers are recorded using a high-speed data acquisition system. Results from experimentation show the strain/time series data from which maximum strain, natural frequencies, and damping coefficient are extracted. These measurements are compared with theoretical calculations and FEA output for the various shock and impact profiles. The investigation illustrates the response of a PWB to various shock and impact scenarios through theory, numerical simulation, and experimentation. Wavelet techniques are used to analyse the time series data, and from the resultant time/frequency space, component frequencies are extracted. It is shown that wavelet techniques are a useful tool in the analysis of shock and impact response data.