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Vibrations can weaken the solder joint.

Rough or disturbed solder is a solder fillet that solidified while one or both metals to be joined were vibrating. The result is a weak, non-uniform metallic structure with many micro-cracks.

Primary process setup areas to check:

  • Check conveyor for vibration or “jerky motion.”
  • Removal of the board prior to the solder solidifying.


Other things to look for in the process:

  • Solder temperature too low.    
  • Conveyor speed high.    
  • Solder wave height low.    
  • Conveyor vibration.    
  • Solder wave uneven.    
  • Early removal of board.
  • Solder contaminated.    
  • Board not seated right.    
  • Excessive solder dross.    
  • Flux applied unevenly.


Things to look for with the board design:

  • Poor pallet design. 

Paul Lotosky is global director - customer technical support at Cookson Electronics (cooksonelectronics.com); plotosky@cooksonelectronics.com. His column appears monthly.

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