What is the best way to solder to Nitinol?
Nitinol (a nickel titanium alloy) has become a very important material, especially in the medical world. It is often necessary to “attach”...
Lead Free Solder
In Search of Tin Whisker Fails in Lead-Free Soldering
Folks, In a recent post, I shared my perspective on the pluses, minuses and neutral aspects of lead-free solder assembly. In the minus category, ...
The Development of the Combined Tabber / Stringer - An Interview with Pat Gallagher
It was a pleasure interviewing Pat Gallagher, who developed the first automated photovoltaic solar cell tabbing and stringing machine back in......
Lead-Free Soldering: Pluses and Minuses
Folks, I thought I would take a stab at listing the minuses, pluses, and “it’s a wash” aspects of assembling with lead-free (LF) sol...
Status of Lead-Free Solder Joint Reliability in Thermal Cycle Testing
Folks, Back in October, I posted comments on lead-free reliability. In this post, I mentioned that I chaired a session at SMTAI on “...
Will Multiple Reflows Damage My Solder Joint?
I just received a customer inquiry regarding a phenomenon that is little studied and even less quantified; “How many times can I reflow a s...
The Future of Solar Module Assembly: An Interview with Indium's Jon Major
Jon major recently joined the Indium Corporation as a Product Manager for Solar back-end assembly products. I greeted him with this impromptu int...
The Conclusion of "Bob and Fred Breaks"
Folks, The conclusion of the Bob and Fred break saga…... Phil stared, “The uptime on AXI’s four SMT production lines is…...
Transitioning from Water-Soluble Solder Paste Flux to No-Clean Solder Paste Flux
I just visited a customer that was converting from water soluble solder paste to no-clean. Not exactly a slam dunk transition as this customer found o...
Metallurgy as Modern Alchemy: Bismuth
Although most scientists today feel that alchemy has been widely discredited, and I have been taught to agree, the idea of it is whimsical and exhilar...
Lead-Free Solder Thermal Cycling & Drop Shock Reliability is Looking Good
Folks, I was at SMTAI (Surface Mount Technology Association International) from September 24 and 27, 2010. As I mentioned, I cha...