Mounting and Installing - Should I use a metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB) with my SMD Luminus LED components?

Short answer: Yes!

Luminus LEDs are designed to run at high power levels and without good heat extraction at the system level, they will have undesirable performance (low light, reduced lifetimes, dramatic failures).

Designers are often tempted to use polymer (FR-4) PCBs either to reduce cost or to have multilayer design flexibility. Unless you plan to underdrive the LEDs at levels well below the nominal ratings of the LED component, using an FR-4 PCB will cause a host of costly problems. Redesign, rework, and warranty return costs will rapidly make you regret choosing to use FR-4.

Luminus SMT LEDs have an efficient thermal path that is designed to couple with an MCPCB and a  heatsink to keep the junction temperature below specified limits at high drive-power conditions.

Here is a simple thermal model of copper- and aluminum-based MCPCBs compared to an FR-4 PCB for a 3 watt LED:

The calculated maximum steady state temperature for the copper MCPCB is 49.6 C, the aluminum MCPCB is 50.8 C, and the FR-4 is 401 C.  In reality, the LED mounted on the FR-4 PCB will fail long before it gets that hot.