On model fitting methods for modeling polymer cure kinetics in microelectronics assembly applications

This work assesses the accuracy of specific numerical models in predicting the cure kinetics of a commercially available isotropic conductive adhesive material. A series of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) analyses have been performed on the materials to determine fundamental cure data. Cure models have been fitted to these experimental data using both the traditional and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) fitting methods. The traditional model fitting approach indicates a significant variation in the activation energy during the cure process. The particle swarm optimization fitting method is able to provide coefficient sets for all cure models assessed. Results obtained with these models are in relatively good agreement with experimental data.