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PCB Test: Carbon Nanotube PCB vs. Aluminum PCB

carbon PCB
PCBONLINE Team Tues, Aug 11, 2020
2209

In the electronics industry, there are many kinds of PCB materials, all having advantages and disadvantages. However, for a carbon nanotube PCB, there seem to be very few disadvantages.

The carbon nanotube PCB gets the best of the FR4 the metal core PCB - FR4 has good electronic insulation but poor heat transfer, and the aluminum or copper base has good heat transfer but poor electronic insulation. Is there any PCB equipped with the advantages of the two? Yes, that is a carbon nanotube (CNT) PCB.

What is a Carbon Nanotube PCB?

Carbon nanotube PCB is PCB with the carbon nanotube substrate. It is as electrically conductive as the FR4 PCB, as thermally conductive as the aluminum PCB, and hard, light, durable, and stable. The new PCB material carbon nanotube can completely replace the high-conductivity aluminum substrate

The carbon nanotube PCB has excellent electronic insulation heat transfer. Besides, it has outstanding performance in heat resistance, high-temperature resistance, antistatic, lightweight, and chemical resistance.

PCBONLINE is currently the only carbon nanotube PCB manufacturer in the market, but still, you can get the best quality at a reasonable price.

Wondering about the performance of the CNT PCB?

Verify it through three tests now!

Here you can see how we test the heat transfer and electronic insulation of CNT PCB. We also tested aluminum PCB as the comparison group. 

Experimental Materials and Equipment

First, we prepare the experimental materials:
  • 30W dimmable LED lights,
  • carbon nanotube (CNT) PCB,
  • aluminum PCB (used as the control group),
  • dielectric strength tester,
  • thermometric indicator,
  • Multimeter

First, we solder the dimmable LED lights and assemble the carbon nanotube (CNT) PCB and< aluminum PCB respectively. Now we get the CNT PCBA and aluminum PCBA.

carbon nanotube pcb

Note
To make the experiment more convincing, we test the electronic insulation of CNT PCB through Test One and Test Two, while Test Three is used to check the heat transfer/thermal conductivity performance.

Test One - Dielectric Withstand Test

  • Current voltage:1.5KV,
  • Electricity:1.0mA-100mA,
  • Test Time: 1 Min
  • Material: CNT PCBA, aluminum PCBA

We turn on the dielectric strength tester and set the current voltage at 1,500V. As you know, in most situations the current-voltage will not reach such a high value.

dielectric strength tester

We check the effectiveness of the insulation of the CNT board first. We carefully used the contact of the dielectric strength tester to touch the CNT PCBA for one minute. The CNT PCBA is good and intact.

dielectric withstand test

Now we go to the aluminum PCB. We use the same contact to touch the aluminum PCB for one minute. The aluminum PCBA is also in good condition.

dielectric withstand aluminum PCB

Conclusion: both the CNT PCB and aluminum PCB withstand the high current voltage so each of them has good insulation.

However, we want to test more about the insulation of the CNT PCB.

So next we have Test Two.

Test Two - Insulation of CNT PCB

  • Current-voltage: 220V and 500V,
  • Test Time: 1 Min,
  • Material: CNT PCBA

We connect the dielectric strength tester and the CNT PCBA. When everything is ready, we turn on the dielectric strength tester and set the current voltage at 220V.

220V insulation test

The CNT PCBA works normally.

CNT PCBA

One of our colleagues touched the working CNT PCBA and felt not a bit of an electric shock.

no electric shock on CNT PCB

Then we set the voltage to 500V and still the CNT PCBA works normally. We the multimeter to check the electronic voltage of the surface.

500V dielectric withstand

No electronic voltage occurs on the CNT PCBA surface. The CNT PCB performs excellently in insulation at 500V.

perfect insulation 500V

Conclusion: CNT PCB has the ideal characteristics of insulation at 220V and 500V.

Test Three - Heat transfer of CNT PCB

  • Current-voltage: 220V,
  • Test Time: 10 Minute
  • Material: CNT PCBA, aluminum PCBA

After Test Two, the dielectric strength tester and the CNT PCBA are still connected. We set the voltage to 220V and let the CNT PCBA work for 10 minutes. Then we quickly used the thermometric indicator to check the temperature of the CNT PCBA.

thermal conductivity CNT PCB

The temperature of the CNT PCBA was 63°C.

Next, we test the aluminum PCBA.

The 220V dielectric strength tester is connected to the aluminum PCBA and we let the aluminum PCBA work for ten minutes.

All operations were the same. The temperature of the aluminum PCBA was 84°C.

heat transfer aluminum pcb

Conclusion: CNT PCB has better thermal conductivity than aluminum CPB. Aluminum is the metal that has the fourth-best thermal conductivity following silver, copper, and gold, and it is commonly regarded as an appropriate material for PCB used in LED. However, the carbon nanotube is better. This indicates the trend in LED lighting - if you want to make your LED lights of the best quality in the market, the key is to choose CNT PCB.

The above three tests show that carbon nanotube PCB has an incomparable performance in both heat transfer and insulation, and it is the best-printed circuit board to produce LED lights and other products that are sensitive to heat. Besides, the carbon nanotube is health-friendly and with it, your products can be shipped around the world.

PCBONLINE is currently the only manufacturer in China that develops and puts carbon nanotube PCB into production. We have extensive experience in the research of carbon nanotubes and the production of carbon nanotube PCBs.  

PCBONLINE has various standard certificates, such as the UL certificates, ISO9001, ISO14001, and SGS. Currently, we are the only carbon nanotube PCB supplier in China. The carbon nanotube prototype, PCB assembly, and components are all of the superior quality. If you want the OEM service of carbon nanotube PCB, you can order online and enjoy a discount.

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