According to scientists, a new type of self-healing and reconfigurable circuit board can withstand major damage and work effectively. Once you reach the end of your life, you can even fully recycle it.
The new breakthrough is paid for a material called Vitrimer because it is rigid and durable at normal temperatures, but is more adaptable and can be reconstructed at higher temperatures. Scientists outlined their findings in a new study published in Journal Advanced Materials on June 1.
Circuit boards are traditionally constructed from thermal hardness such as silicon or epoxy resin. This is a type of plastic that becomes permanently hard and hard after heat curing. However, the vitrimer can be changed by reapplying the heat. This means that the circuit board can be adapted to a whole new configuration.
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Vitrimer also repairs the circuit board if it gets damaged, making it easy to disassemble and retrieve materials.
“Our materials differ from traditional electronic composites,” said Michael Bartlett, an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech, who co-led the study. “The circuit board is very resilient and functional. It still works under mechanical deformation and damage.”
To evaluate new materials, researchers used a universal test machine that measures its strain (the amount that the material stretches before it breaks) to pull or compress the material.
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Adding the amount of liquid metal droplets to the vitrimer to just 5% has resulted in about double the burden on the vitrimer alone when it was destroyed.
The team also tested liquid metal injection materials using a device called rheometers that measure material flow and deformation behavior.
They applied a 1% deformation at a temperature of 170°C to 200°C, and found that the vitrimer could “relax” to its original state.
“Modern Circuit Board Simple can’t do this.”
Vitrimers are blended with liquid metal droplets, replicating the functionality of rigid metal wires in traditional circuit boards and enabling conductivity. The resulting material is highly conductive so only 5% of the blend must be liquid metal, scientists said.
It combines the finest quality of a traditional thermoset set that is mechanically strong and chemically resistant, with the reconstruction and recyclability of thermoplastics.
According to scientists, the new type of circuit board can continue to work perfectly despite serious stress, deformation and “thermal-triggered shape memory conversion.”
Scientists have designed new circuit boards to combat the rise of e-waste. Currently, electronic devices, including circuit boards, are being disposed of due to damage or difficulty in recovering material.
According to a 2024 report from the United Nations, between 34 billion kilograms and 62 billion kg, e-waste has doubled over the past 12 years.
Currently, only a small percentage of discarded circuit boards, including gold electrodes and other valuable metals and metal selections, are recovered during the recycling process with chemical treatments containing strong acids.
Most board base materials are high performance composites that feature non-recyclable thermoset plastics, such as epoxy layered fiberglass sheets, so the majority of the discarded material is found in landfills.
“Traditional circuit boards are made from permanent thermosets that are extremely difficult to recycle,” said Josh Warch, assistant professor of chemistry at Virginia Tech and co-lead author of the study, in a statement.
“Here we can heal or reshape our dynamic composites if damaged by applying heat. Electrical performance will not be reduced. Modern circuit boards cannot do this.”
The team acknowledged that further work is needed to enable the recovery of a higher percentage of materials, but they said their work represents an important step in creating a circular economy of core electronic materials in everyday devices, from mobile phones and laptops to wearables and televisions.
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