Now that we’ve met our Project 99 heroes, it is important to understand their counterparts…the common villains that can wreak havoc during your wave soldering process.
Today, I’d like to introduce you to one of the most prevalent challenges in the wave soldering process: oxidation, AKA Oxide. Oxidation/Oxide is omnipresent in any environment where metal comes in contact with air. The type of metal he bonds to affects his strength, which increases as he ages.
The best defense against Oxide is PCB-40 (WF-9940). PCB-40 is the senior member of the Project 99 team. He contains rosin, and even some halogens, which act like steroids. This means PCB-40 is good at powering his way through oxides on older components and boards – and eliminating defects. PCB-40 has only 3.5% solids, so even though he contains rosin, he leaves little residue. For such a hulk, he is excellent at hiding in his natural environment – circuit boards.
PCB-40 is a proven hero with many successful battles against soldering villains. While PCB-40 is the strongest of our heroes, he is only dangerous to villains and not circuit boards. PCB-40 meets the reliability requirements found in J-STD-004 and J-STD-004B.
