This paper estimated the Arrhenius parameters as well as the pyrolysis reaction model for epoxy printed circuit boards (e-PCB) by analyzing isothermal kinetic data. This paper introduces the use of thermobalance that is capable of monitoring a weight decrease with time under pure static condition. Three isothermal kinetic experiments were performed at 270, 275 and 280oC, that were chosen within a temperature range where main decompositions were observed from nonisothermal kinetic results. Comparing experimental reduced-time-plot (RTP) with theoretical ones, the pyrolysis reaction model of e-PCB fitted best to the Avrami-Erofeev (A2) Model. Consequently, the activation energy and pre-exponential factor were then estimated to be 141 kJ⋅mol−1and 29.9 (lnA, A : min−1), respectively.

This research was designed to elucidate the pyrolysis reaction characteristics of waste epoxy printed circuit board (e- PCB). The samples were pulverized after removing coppers by gravity separator. Non-isothermal pyrolysis kinetic results by Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA) displayed two apparent reaction regions : 1) fast degradation zone and 2) slow degradation zone. According to batch experiments, solid by-products are responsible for about 78%, while liquid and gas by-products, respectively, represent 13 and 9%. The high content of solid by-products is ascribed to that of SiO2 that is a major components of e-PCB. Liquid by-products exhibit high content of oxygen (19%) and contain the nitrogen of about 1%. It is recommended that gas, liquid, and solid by-products of waste e-PCB would not be applied directly as fuels. Instead, pyrolysis of e-PCB would be applied to recover valuable rare metals and coppers from solid by-products. Application of liquid by-products is likely to be limited due to the presence of brominated oils precursor in liquid byproducts. It is necessary to develop upgrading methods for improving the quality of liquid by-products of waste e-PCB. According to kinetic analysis and product characterization, pyrolysis reaction model of waste e-PCB is accounted for by a series reaction with two independent reactions of two resins: brominated epoxy resins and non-brominated epoxy resins. At the first-stage, two resins are independently decomposed to generate thermally stable intermediates followed by slow degradation of the intermediates to be converted into char.

It is being more and more difficult to suppress emissions from electronic products using PCB(Printed Circuit Board) to the limit. Therefore, the exact evaluation of the emission from PCB has been more important to reduce the required time and the cost at the design phase of the products, especially on board ship's equipments. This research has evaluated the emission radiated from PCB based on the theoretical approach of SDA(Spectral Domain Analysis), which is available to analyze microwave stripline, coplanar line, patch antenna, etc. According to the theoretical results, it has been clearly shown that the emission radiated from PCB is reduced as the thickness of PCB is thinner, the permittivity of PCB is higher, the length of stripline is shorter, and the frequency is lower.