PCBA Tech - Reduce surface tension and viscosity in PCBA soldering

Whether it is reflow soldering, wave soldering or manual soldering, surface tension is an unfavorable factor for the formation of good solder joints. But in PCBA patch processing reflow soldering, the surface tension can be used-when the solder paste reaches the melting temperature, it is on the balanced surface.

1. Measures to change surface tension and viscosity

Viscosity and surface tension are important properties of solder. A good solder should have low viscosity and surface tension when it melts. Surface tension is the nature of matter and cannot be eliminated, but it can be changed.

The main measures to reduce surface tension and viscosity in PCBA welding are as follows:

1. Increase the temperature. Increasing the temperature can increase the molecular distance in the molten solder and reduce the attraction of the molecules in the liquid solder to the surface molecules. Therefore, increasing the temperature can reduce the viscosity and surface tension.

2. Adjust the proportion of metal alloy. The surface tension of Sn is very large, and increasing Pb can reduce the surface tension. It can be seen from the figure that when the content of lead is increased in the Sn-Pb solder, when the content of Pb reaches 37%, the surface tension is significantly reduced.

3. Increase the active agent. This can effectively reduce the surface tension of the solder and also remove the surface oxide layer of the solder.

Using nitrogen to protect PCBA welding or vacuum welding can reduce high temperature oxidation and improve wettability.

Second, the role of surface tension in welding

The direction of surface tension and wetting force are opposite, so surface tension is one of the factors that are not conducive to wetting.

Whether it is reflow soldering, wave soldering or manual soldering, surface tension is an unfavorable factor for the formation of good solder joints. However, surface tension can be used in PCBA patch processing and reflow soldering.

When the solder paste reaches the melting temperature, under the action of the balanced surface tension, it will produce the self-alignment effect (Self Alignment), that is, when the component placement position has a small deviation, under the action of the surface tension, the component can automatically Pulled back to the approximate target position.

Therefore, the surface tension makes the requirements of the reflow process for placement accuracy relatively loose, and it is easier to achieve a high degree of automation and high speed.

At the same time, because of the characteristics of "reflow" and "self-positioning effect", PCBA reflow soldering process has more stringent requirements in terms of pad design and component standardization.

If the surface tension is unbalanced, even if the placement position is very accurate, there will be welding defects such as component position offset, tombstones, and bridging after soldering.

During wave soldering, due to the size and height of the SMC/SMD component body, or because the tall component blocks the short component and blocks the oncoming tin wave current, the shadow effect is caused by the surface tension of the tin wave current. A baffle area that cannot be infiltrated by liquid solder is formed on the back side, causing solder leakage.