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62 DESIGN007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2018 My colleagues Alistair Little and Jade Bridges have been sharing their invaluable insights into encapsulation resins and thermal man- agement products for the last few months. But this month I'm back on columnist duty. This is my first of many columns for 2018, and I have decided to share some top trending que- ries that concern many different applications and areas. LEDs are always a hot topic, as are volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and harsh environment concerns. I have quite a few years of experience and knowledge of the coatings business, but of course, I'm still learning. Some queries tend to crop up more frequently than others, and I'm happy to provide some insight into these. With- out further ado, here are Kinner's top queries. So, I understand that historically the most widely used coatings are solvent-based. Can you explain the main benefits of solvent-free conformal coatings? These are very easy to summarise. Gener- ally, solvent-free coatings tend to use less hazardous raw materials, have lower odour lev- els, and can be safer for the operator. Addition- ally, many solvent-free coatings are non-flam- mable, having a positive impact upon business insurance premiums. Environmental compli- ance is a growing trend and solvent-free alter- natives certainly help to minimise the emis- sions of VOCs. How has the trend of miniaturisation affected the development of coatings? The trend towards miniaturisation is most evident within consumer electronics, and has led to the development of ultra-thin coating materials (with thicknesses of less than 12 microns). In the case of mobile phones, for example, the reduced coating thickness in combination with internal gasketing and bet- ter case design has enabled the production of increasingly more water-resistant mobile devices. Considering more traditional applications, such as aerospace and automotive, there is a double whammy effect of finer-pitch compo- nents (i.e., reduced space between the con- ductors) and a requirement to reduce weight, resulting in less protection being afforded by the board housing. Ultimately, the impact of this criteria means that coatings need to func- tion more as a primary mitigation strategy against the environment, and the performance requirements of the materials are increasing dramatically. This is particularly evident in the case of condensation resistance. Top Coating Queries Sensible Design by Phil Kinner, ELECTROLUBE Q Q A A