Thermal conductivity of the composite material - QuickField simulation example
PCB consists of two layers: FR4 dielectric and a copper foil. Dielectric and copper feature different thermal conductivity.
How to find effective thermal conductivity of multilayer PCB structures?
Answer Typical applications Geometry
Given
Task
Solution
We apply temperature difference and QuickField calculates the heat flux.
Results
Engineering question
Set up a plane-parallel QuickField Steady-state Heat Transfer problem for multilayer PCB structures and evaluate effective thermal conductivity from computed field results.
multilayer PCB substrates, composite PCB laminates, power electronics substrates
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Simulation problem
Problem Type
Plane-parallel problem of heat transfer.
Thermal conductivity of copper is 380 W/K-m;
Thermal conductivity of FR4 dielectric is 0.25 W/K-m;
Calculate effective thermal conductivity of a printed circuit board.
Thermal conductance = (Heat flux / Temperature difference) * ( Path length / Cross-section area ).
Path length is measured along the heat flux. Cross-section area is measured in the plane across the heat flux.
Case Temperature
differenceCross-section
areaPath length Flux Thermal
conductance
Along 40°C 0.535 mm² 1 mm 0.268 W 12.5 W/K*m
Across 40°C 1 mm² 0.535 mm 0.01 W 0.133 W/K*m
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