MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF COMPOSITE LAMINATES

WITH ELECTROMAGNETIC HIGH IMPEDANCE SURFACES

R. McCauley, S. Yarlagadda
Center for Composite Materials, University of Delaware

Peter Pa, Mark Mirotznik

Department of Electrical and Computer Engg., University of Delaware

M. Keefe
Department of Mechanical Engg., University of Delaware

ABSTRACT

The push for multifunctional materials has brought about the need for materials that are
not only designed for structural but for electromagnetic properties as well. This paper
addresses the mechanical behavior of composite laminates with high impedance surfaces
designed for specific electromagnetic functionality. High impedance surfaces are excellent
for low profile antennas because of their ability to reflect electromagnetic waves in phase
when placed near a radiating antenna as well as reducing surface waves. This is generally
achieved using standard printed circuit board technology with a combination of periodic
metal patches and vias. Integrating high impedance surfaces into structural composite
laminates can provide benefits for conformal and load bearing antenna applications.
In this effort, we evaluate mechanical properties in tension for a typical high impedance
surface that is a combination of metal patches and vias. The primary focus is on the effect
of vias on tensile properties. The vias are made through drilled copper plated holes and
provide an electrical connection between the metal patches on top and bottom laminate
surfaces. Tension tests were performed on S-glass/Cyanate ester composite laminates with
a high impedance surface design and compared to baseline laminates as well as
commercially available microwave substrate Rogers 4350B. Results show significant
reductions in both tensile strength and modulus, for both systems. The PCB material did
not exhibit notch sensitivity (though had much lower properties), whereas the composite
showed some notch sensitivity.

1. INTRODUCTION

A good application of multifunctionality in composites is for passive Electromagnetic (EM)

behavior. Composites are chosen for Radio Frequency (RF) applications due to their low
weight, high strength, and the ability to tailor material properties. Examples of these are
radomes, various RF filters, and High Impedance Surfaces (HIS). HIS materials are
beneficial in their ability to reflect electromagnetic waves in phase when placed near a
radiating element, as well as reducing surface wave propagation, thus increasing isolation.
[1,2] Working in conjunction with EM models, materials can be designed that function
well structurally as well as electromagnetically. While the scope of this design problem is
large, in this paper we focus on the reduction in tensile properties when HIS designs are
implemented in Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and a structural composites system using
patches and vias.
HIS are generally composite laminates with good dielectric properties that have a
patterned copper on one laminate surface and copper ground plane on the other laminate
surface. They can also have holes drilled in a periodic pattern, which are then plated to
function as conductive vias, with the pattern tuned to specific electromagnetic
performance. The presence of holes generally weakens the material but increase the
electromagnetic functionality. This work shows the effect of the hole pattern on tension
properties of the laminate. Traditionally surfaces are fabricated using PCB’s which are
commercially available featuring excellent EM properties but relatively poor mechanical
properties. Both PCB and a structural composite with excellent EM properties (S-
glass/Cyanate Ester) are evaluated in this effort.

2. METHODOLOGY

This study focused on two systems, the PCB with its good EM properties and a composite
laminate which was our structurally focused material. The PCB used was the
commercially available Rogers 4350B 1 oz. copper-clad circuit board of thickness 1.524
mm. This board had dielectric properties to best match the structural composite. The
structural composite system was fabricated from BTCy-1 prepreg made by Tencate
featuring a Cyanate Ester Resin matrix with 6781 8-harness satin weave S-glass
reinforcement. This prepreg system is designed for use in RF applications due to its low
loss properties. The same HIS design was used in both systems and was designed using the
software package HFSS. Figure 1 shows the geometry of our HIS unit cell.
 Figure 1. HIS geometry and fabricated panels (PCB on the left, Composite on the right).

The S-glass/Cyanate Ester prepreg based composite laminate was fabricated in the
autoclave using the cure cycle provided by the material supplier. Individual prepreg layers
were cut and layed up via hand roller in a symmetric manner. Outer layers were dry
fabric rather than the prepreg in order to improve fiber volume fraction and allow airflow
for compaction. The composite HIS has seven layers to keep the final panel thickness
similar to the PCB. Copper clad panels were made by placing 1 mil copper foil on the
outer surfaces of the preform before bagging. One half inch thick aluminum caul plates
were used to ensure surface quality and uniform thickness. Once prepped and bagged the
panels were cured at 350 ºF under 50 psi of pressure, followed by a post cure at 450 ºF for
two hours. Final panels were cut, measured and weighed. Copper clad panels were sent to
Fineline Circuits Inc. to be drilled and etched into an HIS in the same manner as done to
PCBs (Figure 1).
All composite panels were inspected for processing quality and consistency. C-scanning
was used to inspect for any physical defects and inconsistencies. Fiber content for the
structural composite material was measured using ASTM D2584 burn-off method. HIS
materials could not be measured easily this manner and thus were estimated from
comparing thickness to the copper-clad case. Fiber volume fraction was found to be 54.2
% from burn-off for the composite panel and estimated to be 54 % for the HIS panels
respectively. The PCB and structural composite HIS were measured for electromagnetic
performance prior to structural testing.

2.1 Guidelines for Via Spacing

The strength of a material with an open hole in tension has been well characterized. When
expanding this to anisotropic materials such as composites the means of calculating stress
concentration and failure strength are difficult. [5,7-10] Reasonably accurate methods require
empirical values or finite element analysis.
Inclusion of a hole results in a stress concentration where the local stress can be much higher
than that of the applied stress. The relation of these two stresses is known as the stress
concentration factor . In open hole tension that location is on the edge of the hole normal to
the applied load. For the case of multiple holes stress distributions can interact with each other
between holes and knowing the threshold for this case can aid in HIS materials design. The
gross stress concentration for a series of holes for an isotropic material by relating hole radius a
and spacing l. [equation 1 from ref. 6]

[1]

The gross stress concentration as a function of hole size and spacing as shown in Figure 2.
The calculated stress concentration factor for the HIS included in this paper is 3.047 given
the hole diameter to length spacing d/l to be 0.17. While this is based on isotropic
materials, it serves as a starting point for design guidelines for HIS materials. For the 0.51
mm holes (vias) the distance between would have to be 1.53 mm or less to merit looking at
multi-hole models. A general rule for EM design would be to keep hole diameter to spacing
ratio less than 0.3, to ensure gross stress concentration factors do not exceed 3, though this
can change depending on material orthotropy and loading direction. On-going and future
work will address stress concentration factors for a series of holes in orthotropic materials,
both in the principal directions as well as off-axis loading scenarios.
 Figure 2. Gross Stress Concentration vs. Hole Geometry.

3. EXPERIMENTATION

One inch wide tensile specimens were fabricated according to ASTM D3039. Due to PCB
processing constraints coupons were 8 inches long rather than the 10 inches outlined in the
standard. End-tab material 1.5 inches long was bonded to both ends of the specimens
using a Hysol EA 9309-3NA epoxy. The end-tab corners were beveled 45 degrees leading
down to a 5 inch total gage length for each specimen. A Vishay CEA05-125UT-350 biaxial
strain gage was bonded to the middle surface of the gage length. Mechanical testing was
done using an Instron 4484 and each sample was loaded to static failure at a rate of 0.05
in/min. An extensometer was used in addition to strain gages in order to confirm strain
measurements, as the gages were bonded to the copper surfaces of the coupons. Both faces
of the samples were videotaped during testing then photographed after failure. Data was
recorded using the Strainsmart 5100B system and processed for material properties
according the ASTM D3039 mentioned earlier.

Rogers 4350B PCB S-glass/Cyanate Ester

Copper-Clad Commercial PCB Baseline Structural Composite Baseline
Drilled Vias HIS HIS

Table 1. Materials testing matrix for Tension tests

 4. RESULTS

A total of four cases were examined as shown in Table 1 and six samples were tested for
each. Structural properties of the baselines and their HIS variants including vias were
compared. The inclusion of drilled vias in the composite laminate did reduce the load
capacity. Stress was measured based on gross and net cross-sectional area. Gross area
refers to the area of entire sample while the net area incorporates the area loss due to the
holes where the samples ultimately failed. This comparison allows us to determine
sensitivity of the material to the holes or notch sensitivity. Strain gage measurement was
favored over extensometer for measuring strain as extensometer data exhibited high
standard deviation. Gages also debonded before the samples ultimately failed, however
sufficient strain data was acquired to calculate modulus. Modulus for the PCB system and
its HIS variant were calculated between 3500 and 6500 microstrain due to bi-linear stress-
strain behavior, as shown in Figure 3. Modulus calculates with this strain range more
closely matched the reported modulus on the material data sheet of 11.5 MPa.

Figure 3. Stress-strain behavior of PCB and the HIS variant.

 Modulus Strength
STD STD
(GPa) (MPa)

Copper-Clad 12.40* 0.28 179.06 6.57

Rogers 4350B HIS 11.43* 1.05 131.35 2.55
Reduction 7.8 % 26.6 %
Copper-Clad 31.36 1.61 708.12 15.54
S-glass/Cyanate
HIS 26.61 0.97 487.41 16.95
Ester
Reduction 15.2 % 31.1 %
* measured between 3500 and 6500 μ-strain
Table 2. Modulus and Strength results calculated from Gross Area.

Modulus Strength
STD STD
(GPa) (MPa)
Copper-Clad 12.40* 0.28 179.06 6.57
Rogers 4350B HIS 13.67* 1.15 176.47 3.41
Reduction -10.2 % 1.5 %
Copper-Clad 31.36 1.61 708.12 15.54
S-glass/Cyanate
Ester HIS 31.89 1.16 632.45 22.117
Reduction -1.7 % 10.7 %
* measured between 3500 and 6500 μ-strain
Table 3. Modulus and Strength results calculated from Net Area.

Each specimen suffered from a volume loss from the eight holes which resulted in a 16.1 %
reduction of cross-sectional area. For the composite case, the gross modulus reduction was
very close to the cross sectional area loss while the net modulus was nearly the same (Table
2-3), however the PCB materials a smaller reduction compared to area loss. Due to the
proprietary nature of the material composition, it is not clear why this occurs. One reason
may be that the fiber loading is low enough that machining the holes did not result in the
same proportion of cut fibers, as in the composite case. When the net area strengths are
compared the difference in the PCB was very low at 1.5 % versus the S-glass/Cyanate Ester
at 10.7 %. Based on these results, we can conclude that the PCB material is notch
insensitive, while the composite shows some notch sensitivity, especially for strength.
Materials with higher notch sensitivity exhibit larger net strength reductions. [12]
Failure occurred normal to the direction of load along the line of holes as seen in Figures 4-
5. This is expected as the lowest cross-sectional area is there located there. The PCB
samples exhibited a cleaner failure line than the composite baselines. This was most likely
due to lower fiber content as well as additives in the matrix to control dielectric constant.

Figure 4. RO4350B PCB Baseline and HIS failure comparison.

In the composite, failure was more localized to the line of the holes for the HIS compared to
the baseline. Failed fibers in the baseline were frayed and damage was not always normal
to the direction of the load. HIS samples failed similarly to the PCB along the line of holes
with localized damage along that line.

Figure 5. Composite Baseline and HIS failure comparison.

5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Composites have great potential as multifunctional materials including passive EM

structures, with HIS structures representing one such application. The structural
properties in tension due to HIS fabrication compared to the pure material baselines have
been presented here. Modulus tends to track the area loss which can be seen comparing
gross to net area properties. Both materials exhibit gross strength reduction with the
inclusion of drilled vias. Strength tracks with area to some extent and the PCB material
was notch insensitive with lower modulus and strength but the composite material shows
some notch sensitivity. This was also the case seen in literature and this property depends
on the material and processing parameters. [7,12] An analytical model for an array of
holes in tension for isotropic materials was used to establish preliminary design guidelines
for HIS via diameter to spacing to minimize interactions between adjacent holes. For the
HIS geometry fabricated in this paper, hole diameter to spacing ratio was small enough
that there were no hole interactions expected.
Ongoing work is looking at additional mechanical properties, such as compression, flexure
and shear. Alternate methods of creating conductive patterns (other than copper cladding)
are being evaluated. Methods to predict stress concentration factors for an array of holes
in orthotropic materials are being evaluated both for loading in the principal directions
and off-axis scenarios. All together these methods will provide greater design flexibility for
multifunctional composites.

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