Degradation of two-compound Electrically Conductive Adhesive in relation to curing temperature profile

Electrically Conductive Adhesives (ECAs) are spreading the electronic industry, often deployed in adverse climatic conditions. A series of accelerated climatic experiments was undertaken to gather more information about this technology and its environmental stability. During these tests, an interesting behavior of the two-component ECAs was observed: a sharp drop of electrical resistance in a short time after the curing of the ECA. This indicated a possible problem with the stability of two-component ECAs and mandated further research. Its results are published in this paper and seem to support the validity of the original finding — that there exists a possible risk when using certain conductive adhesives and that manufacturer-supplied curing temperature profiles might, in some cases, be insufficient.