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The effect of solvents on thermal stability of solder pastes in reflow process

  • Metals & corrosion
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Abstract

In the reflow process, the thermal decomposition of flux with different thermal stability will lead to different residues on printed circuit board assemblies, which will affect the reliability of solder joints. As an essential part of the flux, the solvent is one of the main factors affecting the thermal stability of flux. This paper systematically investigated the effect of solvents on the thermal stability of flux and the corresponding paste. Thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA–DSC) curves of various solvents showed that the end temperature of weight loss of each solvent is significantly 80–90 °C lower than their boiling points. By mixing solvents and adding other additives, the thermal stability of mixed solvents and flux enhanced due to Raoult’s law. Thus, TGA–DSC curves provided a clear indicator than the boiling point to guide the selection of solvents in the development of solder paste formulation. Also, TGA–DSC curves of flux showed two distinct thermal decomposition stages: solvent volatilization dominated weight loss and then thermal decomposition of rosin and other additives dominated weight loss. In addition, the real-time in situ hot plate soldering experiment and slump test of solder pastes showed that different thermal stability solvents in flux affect the reflow behaviors of solder paste, which is mainly reflected in collapse performance.

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Data availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Yunnan Science and Technology Major Project (Grant Number 202002AB080001) and the Research and Development Funding of Yunnan Tin Group (Holding) Co, Ltd. The authors would like to thank Qing Li from Yunnan Tin Group (Holding) Co. Ltd for assistance in TGA-DSC tests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yunnan Tin Group (Holding) Co. Ltd, Kunming, 650000, China

    Jiajun Wang, Jubo Peng & Shanshan Cai

  2. Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang, 212003, China

    Xiaojing Wang

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  1. Jiajun Wang
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  2. Jubo Peng
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Contributions

Jiajun Wang contributed to experiment, original draft, data curation, formal analysis, and writing—original draft. Jubo Peng contributed to supervision and writing—review. Shanshan Cai contributed to writing—review and editing, and discussion. Xiaojing Wang contributed to writing—review and editing, discussion, and conceptualization.

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Correspondence to Shanshan Cai or Xiaojing Wang.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Experiments in this paper do not involve in any vivo testing on animal subjects, human subjects, or human tissue.

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Handling Editor: Catalin Croitoru.

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Wang, J., Peng, J., Cai, S. et al. The effect of solvents on thermal stability of solder pastes in reflow process. J Mater Sci 58, 2347–2359 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08162-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-023-08162-7

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