How strong are PCBs?

[Actaeon]

I've never broken a card, or anything, so i'm rather curious. How much force would it take to snap a PCB in half? I remember when I was taking the heatsink off my videocard. I felt as if, I'm going to break it. But I've never broken one, how careful do I have to be?

So, does anyone have any idea how strong these things are? Comparable to a CD?

 

[Mark R]

They are made of composite fibreglass-in-resin, which means that mechanically they are very strong.

However, the traces, especially the very small traces, are quite delicate and could be fractured by excessive bending - I'd try and avoid bending a board visibly - support it if necessary.

 

[ElFenix]

swiftech says they dropped a case with the MCX462 mounted in it off a 3 story building and it still worked. thats a pound and a half of heatsink mounted through the board. they're real strong.

 

[TNTrulez]

PCBs are very strong. I dropped an old motherboard off a 3 story high building, no damage. So I do it again, still no damage. Then I went up to an 8 story building and dropped it. When it landed it got it's corner crushed in but no real damage to the board. That said, I think the board hit terminal velocity before it hit the ground.

 

[Alphazero]

Originally posted by: TNTrulez
PCBs are very strong. I dropped an old motherboard off a 3 story high building, no damage. So I do it again, still no damage. Then I went up to an 8 story building and dropped it. When it landed it got it's corner crushed in but no real damage to the board. That said, I think the board hit terminal velocity before it hit the ground.

Someone needs a new hobby....


PCBs are also flexible, which makes snapping them even harder. I'm not sure how much force would break one, but I wouldn't try standing on a 6-layer board.

 

[Sniper82]

I'd be more worried about popping a component off of one. When you bend one the solder on each end of the component can pull away popping the component(s) loose or off.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: ^Sniper^
I'd be more worried about popping a component off of one. When you bend one the solder on each end of the component can pull away popping the component(s) loose or off.

yeah... the PCB itself is VERY strong, but the components are easily damaged. a cap can be knocked off easily.