The effect of nano fillers in electrical and mechanical properties of isotropic conductive adhesive

In electronic packaging, most of the components on the circuit board are hold together using lead solders. Due to the toxicities of lead, a lot of non-toxic alternatives have been investigated to replace the lead containing solders. One of the alternatives is isotropic conductive adhesives (ICAs). Nano fillers are often incorporated into ICAs to improve its electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. In this study, epoxy resin (DGEBA), microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), silver powder and silver nano particles (SNPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were used to produce ICAs. A total of 10 different compositions were formulated for experimentation and testing. Tensile test was carried out by using INSTRON 5582 to measure the tensile strength, digital micro hardness tester machine was used for hardness tests and conductivity was measured using digital multimeter. The tensile strength, hardness and electrical conductivity of the produced ICAs were compared with lead-tin solder. It was found that the Young's Modulus and conductivity of the ICAs are lower whereas the hardness of the ICAs is higher than lead-tin solder.