I’ve spent a fair amount of time aligning NanoFoil® and parts lately, and I’ve learned that aligning the assembly uniformly in z axis is as important as the x and y direction. To ensure that the entire bond area receives uniform pressure during assembly, it is strongly recommended that foam and aluminum spacers are used to distribute the load over the assembly (as shown in the image here). The foam is very important. Below are 2 images of pressure distribution. The picture on the right shows what happens when foam is not used during bonding.
Regarding x/y alignment, pick and place equipment can easily position NanoFoil®, but if you are manually placing the foil, here are some tricks:
- Use flat tweezers and a component vacuum handling tool
- Consider creating a feature on the part to align the foil to (tape works for prototyping)
- Build a removable fixture to align the foil
I hope these suggestions help you with your NanoBond® application!
*This post is part of the NanoBond® Process series