Everyone, who´ve ever tried to solder without a flux and then with a flux, probably has seen a big difference in solder spreading and in a resulting joint quality.
This effect is very visible on a PCB with bare copper tracks without any surface treatment (for example at DIY production of prototypes) but there´s also a significant difference at boards with a surface treated by tin (HAL) or by gold (Flash, chemical gold,..).
Maybe you have a question, whether it makes sense to add a flux when it already is in a solder wire? Naturally, fluxes in soldering wires are of a high quality and producers of solders (Stannol, Koki, Multicore,...) try hard to reach uniform releasing at soldering and to show a minimum spatter. Mainly at soldering of small joints this spatter often causes, that a flux won´t get to a solder pad, what significantly embarrasses solderability. The charm of a flux is based on the fact, that it is directly on a solder pad and in the desired thickness, which can be influenced by application.
Especially at soldering of SMT components it´s often even impossible to solder by a method “solder wire in one hand, soldering tool in another”, because we usually need one hand to hold a component in tweezers and moreover - often even a 0.5mm solder wire is too thick to precisely dose a solder directly to a small component in for example an 0402 package. That´s why we usually solder SMT components by a method of taking a little bit of solder on a soldering tip and then applying to a component. But here´s a problem, that a flux won´t survive this a few seconds long “journey” but it will degrade by evaporation, oxidation,… In contrast a flux applied directly to a PCB will replace a missing flux from a solder wire and the difference in spreading of a solder is really huge.
A big advantage is, that in a dry environment the FLUX SK 10 can be left on a PCB as a final protective layer. However in a humid environment it undergoes hydrolysis and degrades. In such environment, it´s better to use Plastik 70, Urethan 71 or Silisol 73.
Detailed information will provide you the FLUX SK10 datasheet. In case of interest, please contact us at sales@soselectronic.com.
- flux - an efficient agent to improve solderability
- wide possibilities of usage on a PCB and any other joints
- also protects from corrosion
- in a dry environment can be left on a PCB as a protective layer
- filled by an environmentally friendly gas (CO2)
- after usage it´s not necessary to clean a nozzle by spraying “upside down”
- available in spray or in 1l/ 5l bulk
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What´s the recommended drying time after application of FLUX SK 10?
