10/10/08

Premature Degradation of Conventional Solder Pallet Materials

It has been brought to our attention that a number of CM's have been dissatisfied with the performance of conventional solder pallet materials. Specifically they are unhappy with the premature degradation of the conventional materials especially in systems that use Adipic Acid, Halides and/or Alcohol in their fluxes. They are interested in using our Electrolock-XP because of its favorable side by side comparison in several locations throughout the world.

Adipic Acid is a dicarboxylic acid (it has a few other technical names). We have personally observed and heard of this type of poor performance by traditional materials numerous times in the recent past. We have observed this is where Electrolock-XP has a distinct advantage. Electrolock-XP has demonstrated superior performance over traditional solder pallet materials with a SnPb 63/37 lead solder and a halide flux system. The failure mechanism by traditional materials is due to a combination of the need to grind the surface and choice of resin chemistry. Electrolock-XP is molded to thickness and flatness specifications without grinding the surface.

There are many issues regarding the grinding and sanding of both sides of a solder pallet surface before making a pallet. If traditional materials are magnified, one will see long continuous fibers, kind of like straws, that wick (suck) liquid up into the composite. This action coupled with the intense heat degrades the polymer matrix which in turn crumbles off into the wave solder system and exposes even more of the fibers to do the same. So ironically, once the degradation process begins, it is exacerbated and degrades exponentially with respect to cycle frequency and time. Early stages of degradation have been observed in as few as 100 passes with traditional materials while Electrolock-XP showed very little signs of use after approximately 1,000 cycles other than a slight discoloration in side by side testing. Surface degradtion also leads to a higher PCB solder failure rate because the original dimensions of the pallet have been altered. Electrolock-XP does not use continuous strand fiber glass and the reinforcement used is not exposed. Even when part of the top side of Electrolock-XP is machined, it is a completely different type of reinforcement coupled with a much more corrosion resistant resin matrix.

In conclusion, wave solder processes that break down traditional solder pallet materials are an excellent application for Electrolock-XP. Electrolock-XP was created to outperform traditional pallet materials and this can be proven in a side by side evaluation.

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