May 27, 2011 ZESTRON North Asia’s Process Engineer Jerry Ji was awarded the Best Paper of Technology Conference One (CE11) for his presentation of the technical study titled “pH-Neutral vs. Alkaline Cleaning Agents” at the SMTA China East Technical Conference during NEPCON Shanghai.
This collaborative study, conducted by ZESTRON’s worldwide engineering team, was prompted by recent industry trends and conducted to compare the cleaning effectiveness of pH-neutral and alkaline technologies at low operating concentrations as well as their effects on material compatibility.
During the past few years, significant changes in solder paste formulations and assembly processes have occurred. Post reflow residues of tin-lead and newer lead-free soldering materials are more difficult to remove due to increases in component density, larger component packages, higher lead counts, finer lead spacing and lower standoffs. While modern aqueous alkaline cleaning agents effectively remove these flux residues, achieving satisfactory results often requires an increase in temperature, exposure time, chemical concentration, and mechanical energy. This often presents a new set of challenges in the area of material compatibility.
With the emergence of pH-neutral defluxing technologies in early 2009, these formulations promised to set a new standard for material compatibility, while proving valuable to those who worked toward environmentally sound processes. As a result, potential users are very interested in assessing the differences between alkaline cleaning agents and the newer pH-neutral products, with regard to both, cleaning performance and material compatibility.
“This award demonstrates that ZESTRON’s continuous research work meets current industry demands. As an R&D driven company, we plan to further expand our research in cleaning technologies to ensure that our customers always remain one step ahead of their most intricate cleaning challenges,” says Dr. Harald Wack, president of ZESTRON worldwide.
If you would like to review this paper or have any questions on “pH neutral vs. alkaline,” please contact Mr. Jerry Ji (j.ji@zestronchina.com). For ZESTRON’s complete cleaning process solutions, please visit www.zestron.com.
Headquartered in Manassas, Virginia and operating in over 35 countries, ZESTRON is the leading global provider of precision cleaning products and services. For over 20 years, ZESTRON has created products to help its customers achieve success. Today, with the largest team of chemical engineers in the industry, ZESTRON leverages comprehensive capabilities to ensure customers surpass even the most stringent cleaning and vapor recovery requirements.
