Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design SMT Electronics Assembly Manufacturing Forum

Printed Circuit Board Assembly & PCB Design Forum

SMT electronics assembly manufacturing forum.


High Temp Solders and their use

kbmacg

#6278

High Temp Solders and their use | 23 August, 2000

For high temperature electronics, operating in 225�C ambient environments, most solders can not be used. The high-lead solders all have difficulties of one sort or another. Is their anything new regarding useful high melting point solders? Especially interested in topics that discuss ease of use. Either new fluxes to use or new compositions that flow better or have better reliability. The typical HMP solder is so hard to use.

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Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee

#6279

Re: High Temp Solders and their use | 24 August, 2000

You are asking a very good question which has been an issue in the industry for a long long time. For operating at 225C, you will need a solder with melting point no lower than 270 or even 280C. HMP solder is very difficult to come by. At this stage, lead is still the primary ingredient of choice, mainly based on the melting range consideration. However, lead is not very good on solder wetting, due to lack of reaction with base metals. If a better wetting is desired, lead has to be replaced. The challenge for that is already hinted by the difficulty in finding a Pb-free alternative for high melting solders.

Fluxes for high temperature soldering are also an issue, particularly when cleaning or cosmetic appearance is considered important. Most organics will start to decompose at around 300C. The result of that is (1) poor fluxing, (2) poor cleanability, (3) charred residue appearance for no-clean applications. Although new fluxes have been worked at constantly, a breakthrough in performance will not be easy unless the acceptance criteria have been revised. You may want to check with major vendors with the progress from time to time.

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