High Resolution Optical Interference Measurements of Changes in Bond-Line Thickness—A Review

A novel moire optical interference method, originally developed¹ to measure the swelling displacement normal to the plane of a simple butt joint during water uptake at the joint edge, was subsequently used to investigate the unexpected occurrence of shrinkage and, at the same time, swelling during exposure to organic solvents. In later experiments, synergistic displacement fields generated during simultaneous exposure to water and organic solvents were studied. The same method has also been used to investigate the origin of adhesion failures at copper plated-through holes in thermally cycled multi-layer circuit boards.

The method employs a thin glass cover slip as one adherend. Changes in bondline thickness flex the cover slip thereby changing the gap between the latter and a nearby optical flat. By using monochromatic light to illuminate the specimen, interference between incident and reflected light is achieved. The small displacements of individual fringes associated with changes in gap size are used to generate moire patterns which bear a 1:1 relationship to the local changes in bondline thickness. Application of thin plate elasticity theory to the flexing of the cover slip yields the stress acting normal to the joint. The magnitude of this normal stress is strongly inhomogeneous, oscillating in sign and reaching compressive values as high as 50MNm^-2 for water uptake by a simple butt joint, and exceeding the yield strength of oxygen-free high conductivity copper (1MNm^-2) for the thermal expansion that accompanies simulated soldering of a multi-layer circuit board.

Attention is drawn to the high resolution achievable with the method. Changes in bond-line thickness of the order of Δ/10, where Δ is the wavelength of the light giving rise to the interference pattern, are readily resolved. It is pointed out that the method may well be sufficiently sensitive to detect the effects of different physical properties (thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity) of adherend surface on the nature of the cured adhesive and hence on the mechanical behaviour of the bond-line.