almit

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No-one Matches Almit’s Unique Solder Composition Manufacturers who use Almit’s solder wire agree that the solder process is faster and safer. Part of this can be attributed to a unique patented flux chemistry - one of Almit’s bestkept secrets. The flux contains a compound based on natural resins. All the naturally-occurring water content of the resin is removed in a special process. This eliminates spattering, a common problem in soldering which can cause bridging and impair quality. The unique flux material is especially effective in overcoming oxidisation of component leads. The active flux compounds counteract the oxides and provide a fast and efficient wetting action. With the flux material concentrated into a single core, exact quantities of the active compounds are

Tougher Competition makes better Products Japanese industries lead the field in many areas of technology. A national predisposition to precise planning and quality systems have contributed to some of the world’s highest standards. Such demands need to be met by suppliers to all Japanese industrial sectors, but standards within the electronics industry are particularly rigorous. Japan boasts at least sixty suppliers of solder wire and paste. Such intense competition drives development, while demand from the electronics industry for increasing levels of miniaturisation fuels innovation. In rising to the challenge, Almit has evolved into one of the largest producers of solder wire and, a market now growing rapidly, solder paste. One explanation of Almit’s success is that the company chooses to compete solely on quality. Electronics manufacturers who fail to recognise that high quality solder products can dramatically improve yields and reduce production costs will rarely look to justify the purchase of Almit Solders. Almit’s programme of continual product and materials development allows the company to keep pace with the ever-changing requirements of the global electronics industry. It also affords a sound and practical perspective of the industry’s needs. This experience is embodied in every gram of Almit solder wire and paste.

Almit KR19

Competitor A

supplied per millimetre length of solder wire. The result is an extremely consistent solder quality which is highly desirable for all solder operations and essential for automated solder processes. There is no risk of migration or corrosion. Almit’s own quality procedures have produced unequalled precision in production control. Every batch of solder wire is thoroughly tested for solderability and wettability. Samples of flux are retained for ten years in order to progressively monitor quality.

Competitor B

Competitor C

Almit’s KR19 offers the industry’s fastest wetting action. The charts above compare the performance of KR19 against various competitive RMA solder wires with single and multi-core fluxes. It demonstrates that wettability occurs faster with the single core flux. In addition, the spreadability of the Almit flux takes place in just 1.5 seconds as compared to 5 seconds for other test samples. That makes Almit’s product faster, safer and more effective.

Almit KR19

Competitor A

Better Spreadability The pictures above clearly illustrate spreadability. KR19 achieves spreadability of 96% and floats right to the edge of the residual flux. Other samples cover much less of the area, leaving more undesirable flux residue.

Almit Solder Paste for efficient Screen Printing No Slumping A vital characteristic of Almit’s solder paste is that it keeps its shape after printing and during pre-heating and reflow. Too much flow-out risks the formation of bridges between device leads, especially on fine-pitch components. The pictures below show Almit’s A14 solder paste screen printed through a stencil of 150 microns thickness with an aperture of 0.66mm.

No-Clean RMA Solder Paste The flux material in Almit’s No-Clean solder paste is based on resin RMA. After reflow, all flux residues are completely stable and cannot cause corrosion or migration. Consequently, the flux can be safely left in place and cleaning of the board is not necessary.

Sample of migration.

Almit A14 after preheating 150°C during 120 sec. In the late 1980s, Almit chose to develop a solder paste to complement the company’s successful solder wire. In pursuit of the demanding requirements of several distinguished Japanese electronics companies, Almit achieved its goal with a solder paste of the same high quality. A driving force in the development process was the rapidly decreasing lead pitch of electronic devices which puts additional demands on the performance of a solder paste during printing and reflow. With an exceptional track record over the past three years, Almit’s solder paste is now successful world wide. It offers ideal characteristics for printing and Almit’s renowned wettability during reflow. The unique flux and patented blending techniques ensure an optimum viscosity that prevents the paste sticking to the stencil, reduces friction along the sides of stencil apertures and imparts thixotropic properties that eliminate slumping upon the separation of the board and stencil. At the same time, the paste keeps components firmly in place, easily accommodating the forces of the fastest placement machinery. Almit’s solder paste has already helped many organisations overcome a number of production problems to increase throughput and yield.

No Solder Balls Almit rigorously tests each batch of solder paste and checks several key characteristics. The solder ball test requires that a ‘string’ of paste be printed across a set of very-closely-spaced pure copper leads. After reflow, Almit’s quality controls demand that there be absolutely no bridging and that no solder balls be present. The pictures below highlight the perfect performance of Almit’s A14 paste (right) against a competitive product (left)

where many solder balls are clearly visible. Almit’s solder paste performance consistently results in negligible solder balling, even on the most advanced fine-line boards. However, it is important that the pads on the board are of good design, that stencil apertures are of a size appropriate for both the stencil material and the board geometry, and that the temperature profile in the reflow oven is optimised to Almit’s solder paste.

Almit A14 after screenprinting. Competitor Consistent Quality Improves Production Almit maintains extremely accurate controls over the constituent compounds in its solder pastes. Mixed in a cleanroom environment under stringent process controls, each gram of paste is guaranteed to contain an exact and constant amount of ingredients. Many Almit customers are utilising the most advanced fine pitch manufacturing techniques which demand the highest possible quality solder paste. Almit solder pastes have been consistently meeting these demands flawlessly for upwards of two years.

Good printability. The diagram illustrates the weight of 50 PCB’s before and after screen printing. With Almit A14 solder paste the weight of each PCB is always the same. The PC printed with a competitors paste varies considerably. This is due to the fact that the solder paste sticks to the openings and remains on the mask. The difference in weight is considerable.

Almit A14

ALMIT A14

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Dispensing Advantages with Almit All the advantages that exist with Almit’s solder paste during screen printing apply equally to dispensing. In addition, the extreme consistency of the paste offers further benefits. Lead, tin and silver powder particles are finely graded for optimum dispensing through a 30 gauge needle. In normal handling conditions, the paste remains exceptionally stable with no risk of separation. Almit’s solder paste compounds and patented blending techniques ensure that no paste sticks to the needle. It overcomes the familiar but undesirable situation where some pads get only flux and some no paste at all. The precise solder paste mixture also provides consistency on the board. The properties of the paste offer a wide temperature process window and optimum viscosity to bring significant advantages to production and reflow.

Solder Stocks Stocks of solder paste and solder wire are held in the UK and Sweden. Due to the finite life-span of solder paste, the material requires air-freight transportation to Europe and must subsequently be maintained at a temperature of +5°C to retain its desirable characteristics and guarantee its performance. The two European stock locations permit Almit to deliver efficiently across the continent and support Just-In-Time manufacturing operations throughout the territory.

Continual Product Development Almit is continuously striving to develop new solder pastes, wire, fluxes, alloys and other materials for the modern electronics industry. In 1995, Gummix was successfully introduced along with SJ7. Gummix is a No-Clean solder wire which leaves flux residues resembling a wax finish. This residue will not loosen or crack, even under extremes of temperature (-70°C to +50°C) and vibration. SJ7 is a patented alloy which improves the strength of a soldered joint by 100%. This has been specially developed for PCBs with ultra miniature pads. It has proved highly effective in securing components under heavy mechanical stresses, such as vibration, and in environments that experience rapid temperature fluctuations. Later in 1996, a new lead-alloy and lead-free alloy will be introduced and will be available as wire and paste. Below and overleaf is a shortform listing of Almit’s range of solder pastes and wires. Contact Almit UK to obtain samples or discuss your specific requirements and solder issues.

Summary of Almit solderwires Name

Characteristics

End use

KR-19 SH RMA Sn60/Pb40

m.p. 183-190°C, no clean for high density SMT PCB least solder ball, least residue, robotic works, no-clean solder.

Higher density PCB (chip mounting, OFP, SOP), magnetic head relay.

KR-19 RMA Sn60/Pb40

First Japanese solder of RMA approval. No clean soldering.

Industrial equipments, aerospace devices, computers, mobile telephones, communication, home game.

KR-19 RMA SN 10 Sn 10/Pb88/Ag2

m.p. 260-290°C. Suitable for higher temperature end use.

Pretreatment for dip soldering, temporary fix for QFP & SOP.

KR-19 60 A Sn 60/Pb40

Suitable for soldering difficult metals, such as stainless steel, Zn plated, Ni plated. Good soldering to eliminate faults such as imperfect soldering, excess solder, solder ball, etc.

Automobile electronics, audio, video TV, electric motors.

KR-19 50A Cu Sn 50/Pb48,5/Cui

Cu fine cable to eliminate Cu leaching and break down.

KR-15 Sn 43/Pb43/Bi14

m.p. 135-165°C workable at lower temperature, suitable for soldering heat sensitive articles.

Ceramic ring barrister terminal, micro motor, ceramic condencer terminal, module terminal.

KR-28

m.p. 280-310°C, durable to higher temperature end use, suitable for metals which are unable to be soldered by conventional solders 60/40.

Stainless steel, Zn plated, Ni plated.

Gummix-19 Sn60/Pb40

No flux spattering nor peeling, no clean after coating, higher flux softening temperature, suitable for higher temp. operation, suitable for possible joint break down by flux spattering or peeling off etc.

Switch, automobile electronics.

Syringe sizes are available to suit virtually all machine units. Solderpaste HMI-RMA Sn63/Pb37 HMI-RMA Sn62/Pb37/Ag2

Best printability, very few solderballs and minimal amount of bridges. Very good printability. Suitable for components with 20 mil spacing and high dense PCB. No clean version.

These two types are available in 4 qualities A14

In-line solderpaste for continuous printing.

V14

Has a longer opentime suitable for batchprinting.

T14

Special solderpaste for high speed printing.

V14 Disp.

Solderpaste for dispensing.

HMI-RMA SJ7 Sn60/Pb38/Ag1,5/Sb0,5

Double tensile strength as compared with Sn60/Pb40 solder. No migration nor mechanical break down at higher temp. range. No crack occurrence by heat cycle test.

SJ-7 Double tensile strength as comp. with (Sn60/Pb38/Ag1.5/Sb0.5) Sn60/Pb40 solder.

Automobile electrics/electronics, TV, connector, all end use of severe heat conditions.

Flow solder flux The Almit range of rosin-based RC Fluxes, provide excellent soldering performance. Developed to ensure good wetting characteristics over a wide range of materials, the flux imparts a satin finish to the joint, significantly reducing operator fatigue during inspection. Carefully formulated to remain slightly tacky for a short period after soldering to allow good penetration of test pin probes. By using our specialised formulated flux the build up of rosin on test pins is vastly reduced minimising pin cost, maintenance etc. on In-Circuit Testers. Almit RC Flux is classed as an RMA ”No Clean” type, and is available as type ”D” for epoxy glass and type ”E” for paper phenolic boards. Application can be by spray, foam or wave and both types are available in a wide range specific gravities to suit individual customer requirements.

Full technical data is available on request, Supplied in 25 litre containers. Flux pens Almit Flux Pens are the latest addition to our range. Ideal for on-site locations, or at the workbench, the pen allows perfeclty controlled application of our quality flux, making rework and touch-up a breeze. P Controlled dispensing P No messy bottles and brushes The flux itself is designated as an RMA ”no-clean” - the residual levels are clear, and may be safely left on the board. Available now in boxes of 25.

Almit • For all round quality performance, reliability and consistency

Nihon Almit Company Ltd.

Local distributor

Almit Technology Ltd. Unit 2, Ivy Dene Ind Est, Ivy Dene Lane, Ashurst Wood, West Sussex, RH 19. 3TN Tel: 1342 322 339 Fax: 1342 300 917

Bergman & Bergman

Head Office Almit Bldg., 2-14-2,Yayoicho, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164. Phone: 03-3379-2277 Fax: 03-3374-2593