NPL announce a project for thermal profiling of electronics assembly

Citation

(2000), "NPL announce a project for thermal profiling of electronics assembly", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 12 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ssmt.2000.21912bab.015

NPL announce a project for thermal profiling of electronics assembly

Keywords NPL, Electronics, Assembly, Temperature, Measurement, Monitoring

The electronics industry world-wide has begun the move to eliminate lead from its manufacturing process. However, the increased wave and reflow soldering temperatures associated with the new alternative alloys means a narrowing of the soldering process window, with components being subjected to temperatures close to, or in excess of, their designed maximums. Process engineers are redefining the way they monitor and set-up their process to measure solder joint and component temperatures during soldering.

The National Physical Laboratory has announced a project that will investigate the options available and benchmark them with a series of tests that will result in a code of practice for the measurement of electronics assembly during processing to achieve a more accurate and repeatable measurement.

The details of the evaluation programme are available and will include thermocouple attachment and positioning, measuring profiling reproducibility and evaluation of test vehicles for regular profile monitoring.

The project outputs are listed along with the cost to participants. For more information, please contact either: Dr Chris Hunt on +44 (0) 20 8943 7027; E-mail: chris.hunt@npl.co.uk or Mike Judd on +44 (0) 118 978 4589; E-mail: mjudd@mj-marketing.co.uk