SMYRNA, GA – Solder vendors are denying reports of plans to eliminate a type of flux classified in industry standards as rosin mildly activated (RMA).

On an industry email forum Friday, an engineer at a large defense contractor said he had heard from solder reps of a consensus to discontinue RMA fluxes due to a lack of general use.

The engineer said the reps were with Kester and Alpha Metals.

Meanwhile, a veteran engineer at another major defense contractor said he had heard similar rumors from colleagues.

However, the vendors disputed the reports. Paul Lotosky, global director, customer technical support at Cookson, said, “I can confidently state that Alpha has no plans to discontinue producing currently available RMA fluxes, including the ROL1 Solderability Test Flux.”

Reached by phone, Kester solder paste manager Bill Spring said, “Not that I know of.”

A typical RMA flux is classified as a ROL1 flux per J-STD-004, the industry standard for soldering fluxes.

Aim managing director, Asia-Pacific, David Suraski said the solder company sells "a fair amount" of RMAs and has "no plans" to discontinue them. A spokesman at Indium said the company is not discontinuing its RMA flux lines, either.

One major solder supplier is phasing RMAs out, however. In an email, Henkel Electronics Group global marketing director Doug Dixon said the company "is not taking an active stance in discontinuing RMAs." Nevertheless, he said, Henkel has only a few RMA lines left, he said. "We are actively rationalizing our low volume materials with high scrap rates due to lack of sales," Dixon explained.

Dixon pointed out that the move to lead-free has shifted the emphasis from RMA fluxes for some solder vendors. Most of Henkel's customers build high-end consumer devices such as cellphones, which require Type 4 lead-free alloys, he noted. "As we see more customers switch to lead-free, RMAs are more in danger of hitting the low -volume, low-value for material suppliers."

The first engineer suggested reasons why RMA (ROL0 and ROL1) fluxes would be targeted for elimination include the higher cost of use relative to water-soluble types, as they are more difficult to clean, requiring solvents. Furthermore, Class 1 manufacturers have for the most part switched to no-clean fluxes, and it is known that some solder vendors are looking to narrow their product lines.

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