Thermal cycling reliability of electronic components in bolted assemblies: A study of the influence of bolt position

This paper aims to investigate the influence of bolt assembly position on the fatigue life characteristics of electronic components under thermal cycling loads. In this study, the parameters of the Unified Creep Plasticity (UCP) constitutive model for 63Sn37Pb solder were determined, along with the actual coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) for each component within the electronic assembly. A high-precision finite element model (FEM) was developed and validated through temperature cycling tests on printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies. The error between the fatigue life of solder joints obtained from the temperature cycling tests and the FEM simulation was within 1 %. Finally, a thermal cycling simulation analysis was conducted on the PCB assembly under different bolt assembly positions. The simulation results revealed a correlation between the bolt assembly locations and the fatigue life of solder joints. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for future efforts aimed at improving the reliability of solder joints under various assembly conditions.