Solderability Testing
As quoted in IPC J-STD002 Solderability testing is done to verify that the solderability of component leads, terminations and printed wiring boards, meets the requirements established by standards and, that subsequent storage has no adverse effect on the ability to solder, determine that the dissolution of metallisation on terminations will remain intact throughout the assembly soldering process.
The determination of solderability can be made at the time of manufacture, at receipt of the boards or components by the user, or just before assembly and soldering.
It is a precise measurement of the force required to achieve the desired wetting and wetting time on component and board terminations. A good experienced process engineer very commonly has the ability to determine this information by simply immersing the termination into molten solder and doing a visual assessment – hence the term “dip & look” testing. However the ultra small components in use today coupled with the need to record this data for process analysis, means that a wetting balance needs to be employed.
Dave Hillman is a metallurgist and is the Chairman of the IPC Solderability Task Group.
27th May 2009
