Ed - When I hear of separation between the foil and a board vendors plating I immediately look for a problem in his cleaning and activation processes, including tank scum. Plating separations are fatal, and generally do their worst after a board has been operated or thermal cycled for some period of time. The laminate separation is another thing: You didn't give any detail as to when the laminate separation is occuring, ie., at the solder process, or other event. This could result from several factors: contaminants; insufficient resin; improper B-stage storage and handling; inadequate cure; etc. Is this classic delamination or something different? From your description, you've done some microsections. What do the junctions of inner layers to barrels look like? Any abnormally dark lines in this junction when examined @3-400x? Hope these thoughts help - Email me direct if I can be of assistance. Regards - Kelly ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################