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February 2017 • The PCB Design Magazine 51 lems with matching resin types to your produc- tion procedures that are not easily resolved by studying the literature, be sure to contact your supplier's technical support team for further ad- vice. Next time, I shall be taking an in-depth look at some of the most frequently asked questions we get asked as resin experts and exploring op- tions in response to these enquiries. PCBDESIGN Alistair Little is technical director for Electrolube's Resins Division. a circuit layout, helping you to protect your in- tellectual property. On the subject of prototype boards and sys- tems, it is often desirable to be able to inspect the board and identify and remove failed com- ponents for inspection and replacement. There is a range of resins that are more suitable for use when reworking or repair may be necessary, as well as a range of products designed to al- low the removal of cured resin from the board. Both polyurethane and silicone resins are more easily removed for rework purposes, and special solvents are available to assist with this process. As previously mentioned, technical data sheets can be a great help when you embark on a new production schedule with new compo- nents and resins, but if you foresee any prob- SELECTING THE RIGHT RESIN FOR THE JOB Just as cars in Germany need to be inspected every two years to ensure they are safe, other safety-critical ob- jects – turbines, generators or high-pressure containers, for example – have to be ex- amined regularly as well. This is especially important when the materials and products used are pushed to their out- ermost performance limits in order to increase economic efficiency. To carry out these assessments, inspectors re- ceive a printout map of the factory grounds to help them find their way. Once they locate the structure to be inspected – say, a high-pressure container – they inspect it with help from a sensor. The difficulty is that they have to inspect the entire surface. But which parts have they already evaluated with the sensor, and what still needs to be done? Support is on the way: the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP has developed 3D SmartInspect for intelligent inspection and qual- ity control. In day-to-day work, the process would look like this: inspectors wear augmented reality (AR) glasses, though the system works with a tab- let PC or a smartphone too. They view the object to be examined – let's take the high-pressure con- tainer again – through the glasses. Once all data has been acquired, inspectors can see the results immediately on their AR glasses. Ar- eas with any kind of a defect – a cavity where it doesn't belong, or corrosion – appear red on the display. Inspectors can immediately indicate where the repair team needs to intervene, either by using chalk on the actual object or via digital means. Looking Inside Materials the Smart Way