Tip Tinner
Interflux® Tip Tinner cleans and retins tips of soldering irons. The regular use of Tip Tinner can substantially prolong soldering tip life.
Suitable for
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Hand soldering is a technology in electronics manufacturing that uses a hand (de)soldering iron to make a solder joint or to desolder a component from a PCB board. The process is mostly used in rework and repair but also to solder single components that have been left out of the bulk soldering process (reflow or wave soldering). This can be due to the availability or the temperature sensitivity of these components. The soldering iron usually is part of a soldering station that has a power supply that controls the temperature of the soldering iron. This temperature can be set according to the used soldering alloy and usually is between 320°C-390°C. The soldering iron has an exchangeable soldering tip that can be chosen according to the component to be soldered. For optimal heat transfer the biggest possible soldering tip is recommendable, certainly when soldering (heavy thermal mass) through hole components. For soldering thermally heavy components and boards, the power of the soldering station is also important to keep the set temperature of the soldering tip. In rework and repair, changing the soldering tip for every different component is not realistic and only a few soldering tips are used. Soldering tips exist to solder several surface mount solder joints in a row like for e.g. SOICs (Small Outline Integrated Circuit) and QFPs (Quad Flat Package). To promote heat transfer and flowing of the solder, the soldering tips are wettable, meaning that they make an interaction with the soldering alloy. During soldering these tips will oxidize and they can loose their wettability which will obstruct heat transfer. This can be avoided by cleaning the soldering tip with e.g. a tip tinner. After some time the soldering tips will also wear out and will need to be replaced. The life time of the soldering tip can be optimised by avoiding the use of abrasive or agressive soldering tip cleaners or by avoiding mechanically cleaning the soldering tip with e.g. steel wool or sand paper. The use of an absolutely halogen free tip tinner is advisable. In hand soldering, the solder for the solder joint is usually provided by a solder wire. A solder wire is available in several diameters and several alloys, and has a certain quantity of a certain type of flux inside. The alloy is usually the same or a similar alloy as the bulk soldering process (reflow, wave or selective soldering). The diameter is chosen according to the size of the solder joint. The flux content in the solder wire is usually determined by the thermal mass of the component and board to be soldered. (Heavy thermal mass) through hole solder joints need more flux. More flux content will also give more visual flux residue after soldering. Sometimes extra flux is needed which in most cases is a liquid rework and repair flux but also can be a gel flux. The type of flux/ solder wire is determined by the solderability of the surfaces to be soldered. With normal solderability of electronic components and PCB boards an absolutely halogen free 'L0' type of flux/solder wire is advisable. In general a hand soldering operation is performed like this: Set the temperature of the soldering tip according to the used soldering alloy. For lead-free alloys, the advised working temperature is between 320°C and 390°C. For more dense metals like Nickel, the temperature may be elevated to 420°C. The use of a good soldering station is important. Use a soldering station with a short response time and with enough power for your application. Choose the correct soldering tip: to reduce the thermal resistance, it is important to create a large as possible contact area with the surfaces to be soldered. Heat up both the surfaces simultaneously. Slightly touch with the solder wire, the point where soldering tip and the surfaces to be soldered meet (the small quantity of solder ensures a drastic lowering of the thermal resistance). Add subsequently without interruption, the correct amount of solder close to the soldering tip without touching the tip. This will reduce the risk on flux spitting and premature flux consumption!
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Rework and repair on an electronic unit can be performed on defective electronic units that return from the field but can also be necessary in an electronic production environment to correct defects in the assembly and soldering processes. Typical rework and repair actions involve the removal of solder bridging, adding of solder to poor through hole filled components or adding missing solder, replacing wrong components, replacing components that are placed in the wrong direction, replacing components that have defects related to the high soldering temperatures in the processes, adding components that were left out of the process due to e.g. availability or temperature sensitivity. The identification of these defects can be done by visual inspection, by AOI (Automated Optical Inspection), by ICT (In Circuit Testing, electrical testing) or by CAT (Computer Aided Testing, functional testing). A lot of repair operations can be done with a hand soldering station that has a (de)soldering iron with temperature setting. Solder is added by means of a solder wire that is available in several alloys and diameters and contains a flux inside. In some cases a liquid repair flux and/or a gel flux are used to make the hand soldering process easier. For bigger componnets, like BGAs (Ball Grid Array), LGA's (Land Grid Array) QFNs (Quad Flat No Leads), QFPs (Quad Flat Package), PLCCs( Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier),...a repair unit can be used that simulates a reflow profile. These repair units are available in different sizes and with different options. In most cases they contan a preheating from the bottom side that is usually IR (Infrared). This preheating can be controlled by a thermocouple that is placed on the PCB. Some units have a pick and place unit that facilitates the correct positioning of the component on the PCB. The heating unit is usually hot air or IR or a combination of these two. With the aid of thermocouples on the PCB, the heater is controlled to create the desired soldering profile. In some cases the challenge is to bring the component to soldering temperatures without remelting adjacent components. This can be difficult when the component to be repaired is big and has small components near to it. For BGAs with balls made of a soldering alloy, a gel flux can be used or a liquid flux with higher solid content. In this case the solder for the solder joint is provided by the balls. But also the use of a solder paste is possible. The solder paste can be printed on the leads of the component or on the PCB. This requires a different stencil for each different component. The BGA can also be dipped in a special dipping solder paste that first is printed in a layer with a stencil with one large aperture and a certain thickness. For QFNs, LGAs QFNs, QFPs, PLCCs,...solder needs to be added to make a solder joint. In some cases QFPs can be hand soldered but the technique requires experience so the use of a rework unit is preferred. QFPs and PLCCs have leads and can be used with a dipping solder paste. QFNs, LGA's QFNs who do not have leads but flat contacts cannot be used with a dipping solder paste dipped because their bodies would contact the solder paste. In this case the solder paste needs to be printed on the contacts or on teh PCB. In general it is easier to print solder paste on the component than on the PCB, especially when a so-called 3D stencil is used that has a cavity where the position of the component is fixed. Replacing through hole components can be done with a hand (de)soldering station. This is usually done by placing a hollow desoldering tip over the bottomside of the component lead that can suck away solder from the hole. The desoldering tip will have to heat all the solder in the through hole until it is fully liquid. For thermally heavy boards this can be very difficult. In this case, also the top side of the solder joint can be heated with a soldering iron. Alternatively the board can be preheated over a preheating before the desoldering operation. Soldering the through hole component is usually done with a solder wire that contains more flux or alternatively extra rework flux is added to the through hole and/or on the component lead. For larger through hole connectors, a dip soldering bath can be used to remove the connector. If accessibilty on the PCB is limited a nozzle with its size adapted to the connector can be used. The use of flux in this operation is recommended.
Key advantages
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Increases tip life substantially
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Non abrasive
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Absolutely halogen free soldering chemistry contains no intentionally added halogens nor halides. The IPC classification allows up to 500ppm of halogens for the lowest 'L0' classification. Soldering fluxes, solder pastes and solder wires from this class are often referred to as 'halogen free'. Absolutely halogen free soldering chemistry goes one step further and does not contain this 'allowed' level of halogens. Specifically in combination with lead-free soldering alloys and on sensitive electronic applications, these low levels of halogens have been reported to cause reliability problems like e.g. too high leakage currents. Halogens are elements from the periodic table like Cl, Br, F and I. They have the physical property that they like to react. This is very interesting from the point of view of soldering chemistry because it is intended to clean off oxides from the surfaces to be soldered. And indeed halogens perform that job very well, even hard to clean surfaces like brass, Zn, Ni,...or heavily oxidized surfaces or degraded I-Sn and OSP (Organic Surface Protection) can be soldered with the aid of halogenated fluxes. Halogens provide a great process window in solderability. The problem however is that the residues and reaction products of halogenated fluxes can be problematic for electronic circuits. They usually have high hygroscopicity and high water solubility and give an increased risk on electro migration and high leakage currents. This means a high risk on malfunctioning of the electronic circuit. Specifically with lead-free soldering alloys there are more reports that even the smallest levels of halogens can be problematic for sensitive electronic applications. Sensitive electronic applications are typically high resistance circuits, measuring circuits, high frequency circuits, sensors,...That's why the tendency is to move away from halogens in soldering chemistry in electronics manufacturing. In general when the solderability of the surfaces to be soldered from component and PCB (Printed Circuit Board) are normal, there is no need for these halogens. Smartly designed absolutely halogen free soldering products will provide a large enough process window to clean the surfaces and get a good soldering result and this in combination with high reliability residues.
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In 2006 legislation restricted the use of lead (Pb) in electronics manufacturing. However there were a lot of exemptions formulated, mainly due to the lack of long time reliablity experience with the lead-free alloys. This resulted in a lot of electronics manufacturing sites that were using both lead-free and Pb containing alloys in their soldering processes. For wave and selective soldering, a lot of electronic manufacturers desired the use of the same flux chemistry with both types of soldering alloys. This was because they were familiar with the chemistry in terms of reliability. Also introducing new materials in a manufacturing can require a lot of paper work, extra storage capacity, etc...Although the lead-free alloys require higher operating temperatures than the Pb-containing alloys, by increasing the applied flux quantity in a lot of cases the same flux chemistry can be used for both alloys. However in some cases, usually when soldering electronic units with high thermal mass, it is not possible to use the same flux for both soldering alloys. In these cases, usually a flux with higher solid content is needed. A lot of solder wires and solder pastes are available with the same flux for both lead-free and SnPb-alloys.
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RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazard Substances. It is a European directive: Directive 2002/95/EC. It restricts the use of some substances that are considered Substances of Very High Concern (SHVC) in electrical and electronic equipment for the territory of the European Union. A listing of these substances can be found below: Please note that this info is subject to change. Always check the website of the European Union for most recent information: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/topics/waste-and-recycling/rohs-directive_nl https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32011L0065 1. Cadmium and cadmium compounds 2. Lead and lead compounds 3. Mercury and mercury compounds(Hg) 4. Hexavalent chromium compounds(Cr) 5. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) 6. Polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCN) 7. Chlorinated paraffins (CP) 8. Other chlorinated organic compounds 9. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) 10. Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDE) 11. Other brominated organic compounds 12. Organic tin compounds (Tributyl tin compounds, Triphenyl tin compounds) 13. Asbestos 14. Azo compounds 15. Formaldehyde 16. Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and PVC blends 17. Decabrominated diphenyl ester (from 1/7/08) 18. PFOS : EU directive 76/769/EEC (not allowed in a concentration equal to or higher than 0.0005% by mass) 19. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) 20. Butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) 21. Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) 22. Diisobutyl phthalate 23. Deca brominated diphenyl ester (in electrical and electronic equipment) Other countries outside of the European Union have introduced their own RoHS legislation, which is to a great extent very similar to the European RoHS.