RM 199: Good Adhesive, Bad Bond: The Hidden Causes of Adhesion Failure

Mike Konrad (0:04)

What does it take to make an electronic product reliable? Is it better design, better materials, better testing, cleaner assemblies, tighter process control? The truth is, reliability is never the result of just one thing. It's the result of thousands of decisions made by many people across the entire life of a product.

For nearly 200 episodes, I've had the privilege of exploring those decisions with some of the most knowledgeable people in the electronics industry. We've talked about failures, discoveries, changing technologies, hard earned lessons, and the practices that help turn good products into dependable ones.

Today, there's no guest. Instead, we're going to look back at conversations, the people and the ideas that brought us to a very special milestone. Welcome to episode 200 of Reliability Matters. I'm your host, Mike Konrad, and today's episode is going to be a little different. As I mentioned earlier, there's no guest joining me today. Instead, I'm taking a moment to pause, look back, and celebrate an important milestone, the 200th episode of the Reliability Matters podcast.

200 episodes! When I recorded the first episode, I wasn't thinking very far ahead. I certainly wasn't imagining what episode 200 would sound like. I simply wanted to create a place where people throughout the electronics industry could have honest, technically meaningful, and commercially unbiased conversations about reality. The idea behind the podcast was simple. Reliability is never the result of one decision. It isn't created by a single material, machine, test method, standard, or department. Reliability is the accumulated results of thousands of choices made through the life of a product. It begins with design. It continues through material selection, component sourcing, fabrication, assembly, cleaning, inspection, testing, environmental protection, packaging, transportation, installation, and field use.

It also depends on people. It depends on training, communication, leadership, experience, curiosity, and the willingness to change assumptions when something doesn't seem right. Every one of those decisions matters. That's why reliability matters. As I prepared for this episode, I looked back at the conversations we've had since episode 100 The range of subjects has been remarkable. We've discussed design for manufacturing, component selection, fabrication processes, laminate availability, advanced packaging, semiconductor supply chains, and the continuing effort to strengthen electronics manufacturing right here in North America. We've examined what happens once a product enters assembly. Our guests have discussed soldering, reflow profiling, hand soldering, rework, robotic soldering, component placement, tape splicing, inspection, testing, automation, production software, data collection, and the practical realities of implementing Industry 4.0.

We've also talked about the fundamentals that manufacturers sometimes overlook. Process control, workmanship, training, documentation, troubleshooting, maintenance, and the importance of understanding what is actually happening on the production floor, rather than relying entirely on what we assume is happening. We've discussed contamination and cleanliness and its effects on reliability. We've also spent a great deal of time discussing electronics designed for harsh environments and demanding environments. Our guests have explored conformal coatings, nano-coatings, encapsulants, moisture protection, environmental testing, and the challenges of protecting assemblies from humidity, corrosion, vibration, temperature extremes, and chemical exposure. We've discussed the differences among coating materials, the importance of surface preparation, and the reality that even the best protective material can fail when it's applied to a contaminated surface or used in the wrong environment. These discussions have taken us into automotive electronics, aerospace, defense, medical products, industrial controls, and other applications where failure can have serious consequences. Another reoccurring theme has been the role of inspection and testing. We've discussed automated optical inspection, X-ray inspection, artificial intelligence, counterfeit component detection, electrical testing, environmental testing, accelerated life testing, and failure analysis.

We've asked difficult questions. Does a passing test mean a product is reliable? Are we testing the right things? Are we creating test conditions that represent the actual operating environment? Are we collecting data because it helps us make better decisions or simply because modern equipment allows us to collect it?

Our guests have reminded us that inspection and testing are valuable tools, but they can't compensate for poor design or an unstable manufacturing process. You can't inspect reliability into a product after the important decisions have already been made. Over the past several years, artificial intelligence has become an increasingly important topic on the podcast. We've explored AI in inspection, manufacturing, analytics, training, troubleshooting, design and decision making. We've discussed how artificial intelligence may help manufacturers recognize patterns, analyze large amounts of production data, identify defects, improve efficiency, and preserve valuable technical knowledge. At the same time, we've tried to approach the subject realistically. Artificial intelligence is a tool. It isn't a substitute for engineering judgment, process knowledge or experience. A faster answer isn't necessarily a better answer, especially when the data behind it is incomplete or misunderstood. We've also explored technologies beyond traditional electronics manufacturing, including quantum computing, liquid metals, flexible electronics, wearable ESD monitoring, advanced materials, and other developments that may shape the future of our industry.