Multicore's Ecosol® MF101 flux offers excellent soldering and anti-balling performance

Citation

(2001), "Multicore's Ecosol® MF101 flux offers excellent soldering and anti-balling performance", Soldering & Surface Mount Technology, Vol. 13 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ssmt.2001.21913aad.005

Multicore's Ecosol® MF101 flux offers excellent soldering and anti-balling performance

Multicore's Ecosol® MF101 flux offers excellent soldering and anti-balling performance

Keywords: Multicore, Flux

Multicore has launched its next generation of VOC-free liquid fluxes in the form of its no-clean, high activity Ecosol® MF101 that meets the requirements of VOC legislation (Plate 2).

Ecosol® MF101 has been specifically engineered to offer all the environmental and safety advantages of VOC-free flux technology, in a thermally stable activator package. This results in a flux that has a significantly wider operating window than currently available alternatives, and produces finished soldered assemblies with a low amount of non-random solder bailing: the traditional drawback of many popular VOC-free fluxes. In addition, soldered assemblies will emerge from the wave soldering process as clean and dry as they would with any no-clean flux.

Plate 2 Ecosol® MF101 from Multicore

The flux's wide operating window is achieved by the thermally stable activator package being able to combine with the VOC-free carrier material (water). As a result, the flux remains more active throughout the wave soldering process, even in dual wave systems. This enhances both soldering performance and yields, and means that normally stringent process control requirements can be made more relaxed.

Ecosol® MF101 has also been designed to specifically address the unacceptably high likelihood of non-random micro-balling in existing VOC-free fluxes. This defect usually stems from the difficulty a VOC-free flux has in controlling the surface tension of the molten solder as the PCB exits the solder wave. This problem is solved with Ecosol® MF101 by the thermally stable activator package that allows the flux to exert greater control over the surface tension of the solder, while improving wetting and topside fillet formation.

Another advantage claimed of the Multicore Ecosol® MF101 flux is the ease with which it can replace an existing flux. Because of the wider operating window, changing from either a traditional VOC-free or solvent-based no-clean flux to Ecosol® MF101 is straightforward. After cleaning existing equipment to remove any previous flux contamination the most that will be needed is some minor adjustments to the spray fluxer and pre-heat stage. Many manufacturers have found, however, that no adjustments are necessary to achieve high quality soldering results.

Ecosol® MF101 has been extensively tested both within Multicore's own laboratories and at Beta sites in the field, and, perhaps most importantly of all, it is fully approved for use with lead-free solder alloys. In addition to being VOC-free and non-flammable, the Ecosol® MF101 flux passes the stringent Bellcore SIR and J-STD-004 standards for liquid fluxes due to the absence of halides in the activator.

Although this activator package is fundamentally different from that used in more traditional VOC-free fluxes, the finished PCB assembly will still exit the wave soldering machine as clean and dry as any no-clean flux soldered PCB will. In addition the flux's high activity means that it offers excellent soldering performance on even low solderability surfaces such as oxidised copper, while being compatible with rosin-based surface coatings.

The Multicore Ecosol® MF101 flux, therefore, finally allows wave soldering manufacturers to respond to increasing political pressure to reduce damaging VOC emissions into the environment, and eliminate fire safety hazards from factory shop floors. At the same time, they gain substantial process benefits from having a flux that minimises solder bailing and is easier-to-use than even the most flexible solvent-based, no-clean alternatives.

For further information contact, Trevor De'Ath, European Market Development Manager, Multicore UK. Tel: +44 (0)1442 233233; Fax: +44 (0)1442 269554; E-mail: TrevorDeAth@multicore.com