Effect of solvent evaporation and shrink on conductivity of conductive adhesive

Abstract

This paper describes the effect of solvent evaporation and shrink in conductive adhesive. The adhesion mechanism of conductive adhesive strongly depends on the curing of the polymer matrix. The curing is preceded by polymer matrix chemical reactions, such as cross-linking, solvent evaporation and shrink. Accordingly, it is important to understand the effect of solvent evaporation and conductive adhesive shrink in curing. The curing behaviors and solvent evaporation of conductive adhesive were investigated using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA). As curing time increases, the silver particles in the polymer are concentrated due to the incremental solvent evaporation rate and the shrink rate. As a result, the silver particles in the polymer form an electric path. These results reveal that the shrink rate and solvent evaporation rate increase in conductive adhesive during the curing process improved their conductivity. © 2005 The Japan Institute of Metals.