Markets

Aerospace

The aerospace & defense market demands high performance materials for its applications. The components are often made from a range of dissimilar materials, including lightweight materials such as aluminum, magnesium and titanium, as well as oxide / nitride ceramics, carbides, and composite materials. S-Bond’s active solder technology has been applied to thermal management components for power supplies, avionics and in the repair of compressor blades. S-Bond’s fluxless, lower temperature joining capability permits it to meet the exacting needs for the cost effective, reliable and contamination-free joining of electronic packages used in avionics and radar.

The growing use of electrical power in aerospace components and satellites, and high power weapon directed energy systems on aircraft and/or spacecraft drive an increasing demand for the use of dissimilar materials and thermal management components, providing a strong demand for:
 

Electronics

S-Bond active solder joining is being used in the thermal management of components, specifically for cooling high speed computing electronic packages. S-Bond can join ceramics, including low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCCs), to metals to form a very conductive thermal interface and reliable metal bond. S-Bond alloys have been demonstrated to directly bond to silicon and other semi-conductors, without the need for metallization or corrosive fluxes. A range of solder temperature alloys are available that will permit hierarchical bonding in multi-level chip packages that have various solder assembly/reflow cycles.

S-Bond is Pb-free and RoHS compliant. Its active nature enables fluxless, contamination free joining of sensitive electronic circuitry. Assisted by ultrasonic soldering systems, such active solders are replacing conventional soldering connections in special circuit board level interconnections.

S-Bond joining is playing an increasingly more important role in the cooling of high power electronics through heat sinks and liquid cooled cold plates. Again, the fluxless, contamination free joining of Al, Cu and other conductive metals, along with the ability to bond to semiconductors and ceramics, enable S-Bond to address the joining and assembly of thermal management components that are cooling electronics, such as high power transistors (IGBT’s) used increasingly in power conversion and conditioning equipment. S-Bond has also been shown to be able to join to many emerging advance materials for electronics thermal management made from carbon, such as graphite foams, diamond, pyrolitic graphite and most recently carbon nanotubes.
 

Energy & Electrical Power

Electrical power generation and distribution handle high voltages and currents. Their components rely heavily on the use of conductors such as copper, aluminum and carbon/graphite in combination with highly insulating materials such as porcelain, alumina and quartz. With emerging interest in alternative power generation such as solar and wind, the use of semi-conductors (silicon solar panels) and batteries for energy storage, there is more commercial interest in assembly technologies that can reliably join a wide variety of conductors, insulators and semi-conductors in cost effective, reliable and environmentally acceptable ways. S-Bond active solders are Pb-fee, do not use fluxes that generate hazardous by-products and meet the exacting requirements of long life power generation and distribution.

S-Bond is being used to make cooling plates for transformers and storage batteries, and has been demonstrated to join conductors to silicon solar panels and coated glasses. S-Bond is also being considered for producing power storage battery interconnects and is being adopted to join insulators in high power capacitors and switch gears used on power distribution equipment. Electrical power transmission on rotating and moving linear device components is often conducted through carbon brushes that are attached to metal conductors (Al and Cu). S-Bond has been shown to have a unique ability to solder join carbon, without flux, directly to metal surfaces without relying on conductive plating on the carbon brush materials.

Defense

Avionics, radar, telecommunications and high power weapon systems all rely on cooled electronics. S-Bond is finding applications in joining conventional aluminum and copper heat sinks and cold plates for defense customers. S-Bond is also finding uses in more thermally demanding applications where advanced thermal management materials such as graphite, composites and even carbon nanotubes are being considered. Under Small Business Innovative Research Grants (SBIR), S-Bond is/or has been evaluated and has performed well. The lower temperature, fluxless, lead free attributes of S-Bond joining bring many advantages to S-Bond over conventional soldering and brazing.

Advanced ceramic armor plate is being used in special defense applications on ground and air vehicles. S-Bond has demonstrated its capability to bond SiC plates to a majority of base metals and is being considered for use on a variety of components. Defense satellites and communications equipment have rigorous requirements for power, thermal management and electro-magnetic interference resistance. S-Bond has been evaluated as a bonding method for a range of electronic and MEMS packages where hermetic, electrically and/or thermally conductive bonding materials are needed to seal or connect a wide range of dissimilar metals, ceramics and composites. Sensors are also used extensively in defense applications where interconnects and seals are needed to provide functionality. S-Bond is a versatile bonding material that has been shown to bond graphite, carbon, carbides, oxides, semiconductors and piezo-electrics without flux and its residual contamination.

Automotive & Transportation

S-Bond is providing joining solutions in the automotive and transportation industries, specifically in thermal management, battery interconnections and electrical energy transfer. With the commercial advent of hybrid and electric automobiles, both the cooling of high power, conversion electronics and battery interconnect terminals are areas where S-Bond joining is an effective solution. S-Bond can join conventional alloys such as aluminum and copper effectively, without flux, to produce a large, completely void-free bond area, that does not entrap flux. These large bond areas are typical of cooling plates used in the cooling panels for the solid state electrical conversion components in hybrid and electric vehicles. Currently, several Formula One race car companies are using S-Bond in this capacity. S-Bond is also being evaluated in joining Al and Cu on battery terminals.

Telecommunications

The ever increasing need for bandwidth and speed are driving the use of higher powered electronics in telecommunications in local broadcast vans, cell towers, central servers and satellites. High power electronics require unique and dedicated thermal management systems consisting of passive heat sinks, finned heat exchangers and actively-cooled cold plates. The materials of choice are often aluminum (Al), copper or a combination of the two, depending upon weight and cost considerations. Recently, more advanced materials have emerged as a substitute for Al and Cu such as graphite, aluminum and silicon carbide (Al:SiC) as weight reductions and increased thermal performance are needed.
 

Medical

S-Bond has applications in surgical instruments bonding aluminum, steel, titanium alloys, Nitinol, glass and ceramics. Many of the recent applications have been for surgical tools, boroscopes and non-invasive diagnostics equipment such as remote sensors.

S-Bond joining is fluxless and does not require plating, thus reducing the sources of contamination on assembled components. This is obviously important where cleanliness is critical. S-Bond has recently made invasive, disposable surgical tools for orthopedic procedures, joining stainless steel cutting edges to lighter, less expensive, non-invasive sections of the component. Other medical related components that S-Bond has made include sensor electrodes, boroscope windows and cutting-cauterizing electrodes.

Oil/Gas

Oil and gas drilling relies on state of the art technology to efficiently locate reserves. Drills now are “smart”, containing dozens of sensors to regulate the speed, location and direction of a drill in order to permit the operators to guide the drill head to oil and gas deposits. The sensors or housings that enclose and protect the sensors are components that benefit from S-Bond’s capability to join a range of dissimilar metals to a variety of ceramics. S-Bond’s joining versatility and its fluxless joining processes make it ideal for a wide range of sensors used in oil and gas exploration and drilling. Additional applications in this market area include wear seals joining ceramics to metals.

Other Industrial

S-Bond has applications in a broad range of industrial markets including power plants, petrochemical refineries, pharmaceutical plants, and electronic assembly plants, all requiring electronics and sensors for process instrumentation and control. Sensors are critical to the operation of such plants and the high speed transfer of information is important, driving a need for higher power electronics necessitating thermal management units. S-Bond joining finds applications in the sensors, electronics, electrical contacts, process cooling and sealing. S-Bond’s ability to join metals, dissimilar metals and ceramics make it an excellent choice for assembly of many components. S-Bond joining offers many advantages in areas where repetitive motion or the rubbing of components may cause constant abrasion and erosion. In these applications, ceramics or carbide materials may need to be bonded to metals.