Study for implementation of electronic circuits into multifunctional miniaturized thermoplastic enclosures

The development of lightweight enclosures adds great contributions to reduce costs and emissions in many sectors. Automotive, aeronautics, aerospace and industry have high interest in these benefits, and together with miniaturization, the possibility to considerably reduce the overall size of parts used in these sectors. In this sense, Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) has emerged in the last decade as a flexible technology to broad applications towards miniaturization. By this process, commonly used Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) become unnecessary as components, conductive tracks and pads are joined directly into plastic surfaces, allowing optimized enclosures to obtain multifunction. Devices to be used in LDS technology are commonly produced by injection molding, with a large variety of materials available. Recent advances introduced LDS materials to be processed by Additive Manufacturing (AM). The freedom of shape and all other benefits of AM can be explored to develop early prototypes and, with this, reduce time to market of innovative, multifunctional, miniaturized and lightweight devices. This work seeks to evaluate the perspectives on the use of LDS technology into multifunctional thermoplastic enclosures in different fields. Comparisons between injection molding and additive manufacturing are performed, and considerations on materials and related processes are also presented, as well the benefits and challenges. Finally, a perspective on the use of them in many fields, including industry, automotive and aerospace is discussed.