This chapter discusses the effect of fiber length and orientation on the strength and stiffness of discontinuous-fiber composites. It also describes several fabrication processes, including spray-up, compression molding, reaction injection molding, and injection molding.

Most of the counterfeit parts detected in the electronics industry are either novel or surplus parts or salvaged scrap parts. This article begins by discussing the type of parts used to create counterfeits. It discusses the three most commonly used methods used by counterfeiters to create counterfeits. These include relabeling, refurbishing, and repackaging. The article presents a systematic inspection methodology that can be applied for detecting signs of possible part modifications. The methodology consists of external visual inspection, marking permanency tests, and X-ray inspection followed by material evaluation and characterization. These processes are typically followed by evaluation of the packages to identify defects, degradations, and failure mechanisms that are caused by the processes (e.g., cleaning, solder dipping of leads, reballing) used in creating counterfeit parts.

This article is a compilation of abbreviations and symbols related to characterization and failure analysis of plastics.

Plastic gears are continuing to displace metal gears in applications ranging from automotive components to office automation equipment. This chapter discusses the characteristics, classification, advantages, and disadvantages of plastics for gear applications. It provides a comparison between the properties of metals and plastics for designing gears. The chapter reviews some of the commonly used plastic materials for gear applications including thermoplastic and thermoset gear materials. The chapter also describes the processes involved in plastic gear manufacturing.

This article describes key processing methods and related design, manufacturing, and application considerations for plastic parts and includes a discussion on materials and process selection methodology for plastics. The discussion covers the primary plastic processing methods and how each process influences part design and the properties of the plastic part. It also includes a brief description of functional requirements in process selection; an overview of various process effects and how they affect the functions and properties of the part; and the selection of processes for size, shape, and design detail factors.

Root cause of failure in automotive electronics cannot be explained by the failure signatures of failed devices. Deeper investigations in these cases reveals that a superimposition of impact factors, which can never be represented by usual qualification testing, caused the failure. This article highlights some of the most frequent early life failure types in automotive applications. It describes some of the critical things to be considered while handling packages and printed circuit board layout. The article also provides information on failure anamnesis that shows how to use history, failure signatures, environmental conditions, regional failure occurrences, user profile issues, and more in the failure analysis process to improve root cause findings.

This chapter describes the molecular structures and chemical reactions associated with the production of thermoset and thermoplastic components. It compares and contrasts the mechanical properties of engineering plastics with those of metals, and explains how fillers and reinforcements affect impact and tensile strength, shrinkage, thermal expansion, and thermal conductivity. It examines the relationship between tensile modulus and temperature, provides thermal property data for selected plastics, and discusses the effect of chemical exposure, operating temperature, and residual stress. The chapter also includes a section on the uses of thermoplastic and thermosetting resins and provides information on fabrication processes and fastening and joining methods.

This article covers the thermal analysis and thermal properties of engineering plastics with respect to chemical composition, chain configuration, and/or conformation of the base polymers. The thermal analysis techniques covered are differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, thermomechanical analysis, and rheological analysis. The basic thermal properties covered include thermal conductivity, temperature resistance, thermal expansion, specific heat, and the determination of glass-transition temperatures. The article further describes various factors influencing the determination of service temperature of a material. Representative examples of different types of engineering thermoplastics are discussed in terms of structure and thermal properties. The article also discusses the thermal and related properties of thermoset resin systems.