How To Clean Flux Residue After Silver Soldering
After soldering we using Vapor Degreaser process with RHO-TRON 225 AES-L to clean up the flux.
How to clean flux residue after silver soldering. To confirm root cause you can send a sample board to Kyzens Application Lab for analysis. For example if somebody uses the wrong flux or a solder paste that has not been properly stored or is past its expiration date white residues can result. This depends greatly on what kind of solder and flux you used.
Other surface oxides are easier to remove and for these the jeweler can use an acid solution commonly called pickle which will also remove the residue of flux at the same time. Brushing or swabbing the brazed area in conjunction with the water quench may help remove stubborn residue. I usually wipe joints with a water saturated rag after soldering.
During the soldering process excess. After soldering it is VERY important to neutralize and remove all flux residue from your solderingCJs Flux Removeris designed specifically to do this. Intermediate and Corrosive Solder Fluxes Halides These fluxes leave a fused residue which absorbs airborne moisture causing a slow chemical reaction at the joint.
This will leave a while crystalline residue commensurate with the flux residue surrounding the SMT components. Using any water based cleaner such as Detergent 8 Low-Foaming Ion-Free Detergent will result in the formation of a white insoluble residue in the presence of heavy metals such as lead or even tin along with burned acids from rosin or other acid activated solder fluxes. Most Solders use a Rosin type flux.
It gets rid of any remaining impurities such as metal oxides and leaves no flux residue after cleaning. If there is any chance of flux-contaminated solvent wicking into these areas flush them with fresh solvent. This Rosin flux will NOT be removed with water.
Steam lance cleaning - This process employs super-heated steam under pressure to dissolve and blast away flux residue. Once you are ready with the flux cleaning solution know that the rest of the procedure of how to clean PCB after soldering is only a matter of time. Usually no-clean flux cleans up nicely with isopropyl alcohol or distilled water.