Lead-free wave soldering evaluation update
Lead-free wave soldering evaluation update
Keyword: Wave soldering
Wave soldering is the main assembly process, which will be impacted by a change to lead-free alloys. With the signing of WEEE directive in Europe, it is inevitable that lead-free is on the way and engineers need to consider the implication to their process. Another option is for design engineers to focus on reflow and phase out wave, something which is unlikely to happen in many companies.
Examples of some of the wave soldering process issues that engineers need to consider are listed here:
increased solder shorts, potential copper track erosion, solder fillet lifting/pad lifting/joint tearing, increased board sagging, solder bath/ducting erosion, and better topside temperature control.
