72 The PCB Magazine • June 2016
Beyond FR-4: High-Performance Materials
for Advanced Designs, Part 1
In the past 40-plus years of PCB manufacturing,
the primary material of choice has overwhelm-
ingly been e-glass supported FR-4 resin laminates.
This is due to the excellent dimensional stability
and reasonably acceptable thermal performance
(based on glass transition temperature and de-
composition temperature).
IMPACT Washington, D.C. 2016:
Industry Leaders Advocate for a
Pro-Manufacturing Policy Agenda
IPC places a high priority on educating govern-
ment officials about key policy issues of impor-
tance to the electronics industry. That's why top
executives from leading electronics companies
gathered in Washington, D.C. recently for "IM-
PACT Washington, D.C. 2016."
NASA Investigates 3D Printing for
Building Densely Populated Electronic
Assemblies
As detector assemblies get smaller and denser—
packed with electronic components that all must
be electrically connected to sense and read out
signals—it's becoming increasingly more challeng-
ing to design and manufacture these all-important
instrument devices.
Dragon Finalizing Departure Preps
The SpaceX Dragon is being packed with critical
science today and tomorrow before its release and
splashdown on Wednesday. The crew is also re-
viewing Dragon departure procedures and train-
ing for its release from the grip of the Canadarm2
robotic arm.
Beyond FR-4: High Performance Materials
for Advanced Designs, Part 2
In Part 1, we covered basic FR-4 and variants that
have been used in the commercial and military
market for the past few decades, but in this col-
umn we will delve into the newer materials that
target a specific application and/or market seg-
ment.
Industry Weighs in on
Green Aviation Tech
Aviation's future is bright…green. That was the
environmentally promising message delivered
during the Green Aviation Technical Interchange
Meeting (TIM), held recently at NASA Langley Re-
search Center in Hampton, Va.
NASA, Virginia Tech Test Management
Platform for Unmanned Aircraft Traffic
Efforts to protect air travelers are becoming es-
sential as business leaders ramp up efforts to use
unmanned aircraft for agriculture, real estate, in-
spections, and commercial purposes, officials from
the Virginia Tech Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership
said.
Raytheon to Start Production of First
Multi-spectral Targeting System
The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon Company
a $90 million first-lot production contract for the
next-generation Multi-Spectral Targeting System.
The AN/DAS-4, the latest variant of the MTS fam-
ily of sensors, incorporates greater fire control and
Target Location Accuracy technology for precise
coordinates.
NASA Space Launch System's First Flight to
Send Small Sci-Tech Satellites into Space
The first flight of NASA's new rocket, the Space
Launch System (SLS), will carry 13 CubeSats to
test innovative ideas along with an un-crewed Ori-
on spacecraft in 2018.
Station Readies for BEAM Expansion
The Expedition 47 crew is getting a new module
recently attached to the Tranquility module ready
for expansion later this week. The International
Space Station residents are also running experi-
ments today exploring a wide variety of phenom-
ena and checking station gear.
MilAero007
Highlights
