Can FFC flat cable and FPC flat cable replace each other?

Many people ask whether FFC flat cable and FPC can replace each other? In fact, the friend who asks this question must not know much about the industry. At present or for a long time to come, neither the FFC cable nor the FPC cable can replace the other. The two types of cables will coexist and complement each other.

In my opinion, many friends, even some friends who have not been involved in the field of ffc cabling for a long time, do not agree with our conclusion. Let me analyze it:

The process of FFC flat cable is obviously different from that of fpc flat cable. The FFC soft cable is formed by pressing a group of flat copper wires arranged at a specific spacing with two layers of hot melt PET film or PI film under a high temperature wheel, while the fpc flat cable is formed by etching a whole layer of PI film covered with copper film to form different circuit structures.

1、 The complexity of the circuit structure of ffc flat cable is different from that of fpc flat cable. Obviously, for some complicated curved line structures, fpc flat lines must be the first choice, while ffc flat lines can only form some straight flat lines. When forming complex curve line structure, fpc flat line must be selected. Comparatively speaking, fpc flat cable is softer than ffc flat cable.

Application of smart phone double-sided panel fpc flexible flat cable

2、 The temperature resistance of ffc flat cable is different from that of fpc flat cable. Generally, the temperature resistance of the ffc flat wire made of PET based hot-melt adhesive film is only 80 ℃ or 105 ℃, while the temperature resistance of the ffc flat wire made of PI based hot-melt adhesive film is 120 ℃. However, the fpc flat cable can withstand the temperature above 200 ℃. Therefore, fpc flat cable is more resistant to high temperature than ffc flat cable.

If you only look at the above two points, it seems that the fpc flat cable can kill the ffc flat cable in seconds. In front of the powerful function of the fpc flat cable, the ffc flat cable seems to have a way to the grave. Is that really the case? No! Please continue to look at the following two points:

3、 The cost of FFC flat cable is different from that of Fpc flat cable. The fpc flat line can be either a curve structure or a straight line structure, but no matter how simple the fpc flat line structure is, each specification requires a mold. A set of ordinary fast wire walking molds costs at least 1000 yuan, while a medium wire walking mold with slightly higher accuracy costs 1500~2000 yuan. If customers have higher requirements for dimensional accuracy, a set of slow wire walking molds costs more than 3000 yuan. The ffc flat cable does not need to open a mold at all, which saves a large amount of cost.

4、 The efficiency of FFC flat cable is different from that of FPC flat cable. The production efficiency of ffc flat wire is very high, while the production efficiency of fpc flat wire is very low compared with that of fpc flat wire because of its more complex process and more processes. In addition, if it is a simple curve structure, you can fold the ffc cable, and it is not necessary to make the fpc cable.

Ffc cable arrangement for polygonal processing printer

The conductor material of FFC flat cable is different from that of FPC flat cable. The conductor of fpc flat wire is etched on the entire layer of copper foil, and the general thickness of copper foil: 12U, 18U, 25U, 35U for single panel copper foil; The copper foil thickness of double-sided plate is 12U, 18U, 25U, 35U, 70U. Therefore, for single panel fpc flat cable, the thickness of copper foil can only be 35U at most. The conductor thickness of the ffc flat cable can be 35U, 50U and 100U. If the terminal demander hopes that the conductor can pass a larger current and the conductor impedance must be small, it must use a conductor with a larger cross-sectional area. Generally, it cannot hope that the conductor is too far away, so the relatively thick conductor of the ffc flat line can show advantages. To sum up, at present, no one can replace the FFC cable and the FPC cable. They will coexist for a long time and serve well to connect everything.