Hi Bill
You said, "silicon". We assume by your discussion that you ment to say, "silicone".
For background on silicone and soldering, check with Dow Corning [517-496-6000]. They make a OS2 [VOC-free] silicone stripper and should be able to give you background.
It's true that you'll probably never be able to completely remove the silicone, but our concern about silicone is different from the one than the one that you indicate. We believe that silicone affects ability of: * Solder connection to wet. [So, initially we're talking rework and repair activities at your plant.] * Mechanical contacts to make contact.
So, we don't see it as an agent that changes the properties of a properly formed solder connection. We see it as a coating. Your repair folks' "floating" analogy is apt. It's kinda like a coating of oil.
Obviously, "oil" is not a correct analogy from a technical stand-point, but it's not far off-base from a practicle point of view. Your rework troops could get that stuff all over the place, because they'll have the stuff on their hands. Decontamination could be a horror show. You probably need to be careful in recycling packaging materials.
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