Non-destructive testing method for inspecting the quality of plated parts and soldered joints

该提案旨在开发一种评估镀件零件和焊接接头质量的方法，该方法使用的技术解决了竞赛简介中“无损检测技术和工程测量”的例子。Semelab生产的所有产品都包含焊接接头，以将材料粘合在一起，通常是电镀材料。采用破坏性弯曲试验和可焊性试验评估来料件的镀层质量，这些试验是在样品基础上进行的，但不能保证突出镀层中的所有潜在缺陷。例如，最近一家供应商的镀针被发现在该批次中有5%的缺陷部件，这些部件在来料破坏性样品测试中未暴露，通过装配线进行处理，并在100%筛选测试中被识别出来，导致对客户的严重延误。所采取的方法将是探索NPL的现有技术，例如锁定热成像，时域反射镜（TDR）和电噪声测量，以评估这些技术是否能够检测有缺陷的镀件零件和焊接接头。该项目的成功将彻底改变电子制造过程，因为目前还没有已知的在制造过程后直接评估焊接接头的无损技术，这将导致更高质量的产品水平，并减少向客户交付可疑模块的可能性。

This proposal aims to develop a method of evaluating the quality of plated pieceparts and soldered joints using a technique which addresses the “non-destructive inspection technologies and engineering measurements” example under the competition brief. The products that are manufactured at Semelab all contain soldered joints to bond materials together, typically materials that are plated. The quality of the plating of the incoming pieceparts is evaluated using a destructive bend test and solderability test that are performed on a sample basis but does not guarantee to highlight all potential faults in the plating. For example recently a plated pin from a supplier was found to have 5% defective parts within the lot that was not exposed during incoming destructive sample testing, processed through the assembly line and identified during 100% screening tests, leading to a significant delay to the customer. The approach taken will be to explore current techniques with NPL, for example Lock-in Thermography, Time Domain Reflectroscopy (TDR) and electrical noise measurements to evaluate whether these techniques are capable of detecting defective plated pieceparts and soldered joints.The success of this project would revolutionise the electronics manufacturing process as currently there is no known non-destructive technique of evaluating soldered joints directly after the manufacturing process which would lead to higher quality levels of product and less potential for suspect modules to be delivered to customers.