ZESTRON’s Jigar Patel to Present at IPC APEX EXPO 2019

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ZESTRON’s Jigar Patel, M.S.Ch.E., senior application engineer, will present “Higher Defluxing Temperature and Low Standoff Component Cleaning - A Connection” at the IPC APEX 2019 in San Diego, California.

As board density has increased and component standoff heights have decreased, cleaning processes are steadily challenged. Over time, cleaning agent formulations have advanced to match new solder paste developments, spray system configurations have improved, and wash temperatures (thermal energy) have been limited to a maximum of 160ºF. In most cases, this is due to thermal limitations of the materials used to build the polymer-based cleaning equipment. Building equipment out of stainless steel is an option, but one that may be cost prohibitive.

Given the maximum allowable wash temperature, difficult cleaning applications are met by increasing the wash exposure time; including reducing the conveyor speed of inline cleaners or extending wash time in batch cleaners. Although this yields effective cleaning results, process productivity may be compromised.

However, high temperature resistant polymer materials, capable of withstanding a 180°F wash temperature, are now available and can be used in cleaning equipment builds. For this study, the authors explored the potential for increasing cleaning process efficiency as a result of an increase in thermal energy due to the use of higher wash temperature. The cleaning equipment selected was an inline cleaner built with high temperature resistant polymer material.

Jigar Patel will present the DOE and key results during the Cleaning session on Wednesday, January 30, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.  

About ZESTRON

Headquartered in Manassas, Virginia, and operating in more than 35 countries, ZESTRON is the global leading provider of high precision cleaning products, services and training solutions for the electronics and semiconductor manufacturing industries. With eight technical centers worldwide and the industry’s most knowledgeable team of engineers focused on high precision cleaning, ZESTRON’s commitment to ensuring that its customers surpass even the most stringent cleaning requirements is without equal.