It is a well known fact that the wave soldering field has been growing at quite a rapid pace. Like any other technology, some drawbacks are associated with this technology also. In order to overcome these drawbacks and to make this technology even more efficient and productive various studies are being done to make this technology closer to perfect. Under this category the main study is being done regarding the lead factor involved in the wave soldering process, as it is known that lead is quite harmful product that is generated in many of the technological process, and research is being done to make the process lead free process.
< a href="http://swpc.co.il/Page31.html">Lead free wave soldering will be quite helpful to the people involved in the business of this process. Various studies are being done so as to make the process lead free. Under these studies the main thing which comes is about the dissolution of copper in the lead free alloys. Also studies have been done regarding the use of alloys which necessitate additional wave solder pot preservation just due to higher copper dissolution rates. Under the first section of this study, it was found that whether there is any significant difference among the alloys of Sn/Cu/Ag. This study compared the three alloys and determined that which alloy will absorb less copper at the wave soldering temperature.
Under this study procedure the pots made up of different alloys were made to hold an equal amount of metal and then were heated up to the temperature limit of 573°F (276°C). At this condition the changes in the alloys were monitored every 5 mins, so as to get any sort of visible change in the alloys. After this test it was found that the alloys placed for the lead free wave soldering test absorbed copper exactly twice then that Castin absorbed during the test performed on it. So the conclusion was made that the Castin is quite stable at the wave soldering temperature, and it will require less alloy maintenance initially.
This test helped a lot in determining the suitable alloy for the making of the < a href=“http://swpc.co.il/Page41.html”>wave soldering pots. At the same time it was observed that the use of Castin alloy reduces the dissolution of copper during the wave soldering temperature, hence it makes the procedure lead free. The reduction in the amount of copper dissolution in the wave soldering pots, during the wave soldering process made the wave solder process more productive in terms of the printed circuit boards manufactured and the board performance at extreme temperature.
The main conclusion extracted from these studies, on various alloys to make the wave soldering process lead free was that, the printed circuit boards manufactured should be designed to have a solder barrier metal on their surface. Generally nickel metal is used as a solder barrier for this process. However it was found that gold can also be used instead of lead but then, gold gets deposited in the solder pots causing further problems. So nickel is used.
