FR4 time*temperature discoloration

John S · 2013-12-22T18:16:37+00:00

A component hot enough will cause FR4 to discolor after a few years. An end user will suspect there is a problem with the board (even if there is none) because of the discoloration. Does anybody know how hot a component on the board can be and still not cause discoloration eventually? I have searched, but I only found information regarding short-term temperature extremes. Thanks. John S

Dec 22, 2013 21 Replies

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Tim Wescott 12 years ago

I wasn't suggesting that the OP use the standard to calculate MTBF, but rather to get an idea of the impact of raised temperature on reliability.

Tim Wescott Control system and signal processing consulting www.wescottdesign.com

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Tim Wescott 12 years ago

I've seen that happen, too, particularly when the board-killing fault arises because something is depending on too-tight tolerances.

I wasn't suggesting that be done. Mostly, I was suggesting that you could use the thing as a resource to be reverse-engineered for figuring out what temperature targets you wanted to aim for in selecting appropriate components & whatnot.

Tim Wescott Control system and signal processing consulting www.wescottdesign.com

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