SCIENCE OF SOLDERING© OPERATOR & TECHNICIAN CURRICULUM: ALL THE KNOWLEDGE TOOLS FOR SUCCESS
Electronics Manufacturing Sciences provides education and certification services that go beyond the usual industry requirements. Our methodology includes our own Science of Soldering© education that provides important techniques for product reliability and workplace efficiencies that are not offered by other courses.
The great strength of Science of Soldering© lies in its effective communication with individuals of all educational levels. The curriculum is thorough but presented in ways that make it easy to understand by anyone, even those who haven't completed high school. student's ability. We developed demonstrations, hands–on exercises, and audio–visual presentations that make these critical lessons clear to everyone regardless of formal education.
Part 1: The Science
The Science portion combines demonstrations, experiments and troubleshooting of a unique soldering process problem. This is followed by exercises in which the lessons are applied to specific manufacturing applications such as terminals, through–hole and surface mount assemblies. Industry high reliability requirements are taught throughout.
Although the final curriculum can be modified to meet the client's special needs, the usual curriculum consists of:
1. The Core Science
- Wetting forces
- Chemical reactions
- Intermetallic bonds
2. Clean Surfaces
- Definition and importance
- Contamination
- Oxides
3. Flux
- Defined
- Types and attributes
- Acidity, ionic contamination and effects on reliability
- The real definition of no–clean flux
- Selecting fluxes suitable for high reliability applications
4. Solderability
- Definition and importance
- Solderability of different component and PCB surfaces
- Implications of lead–free component finishes
- Scientific solderability management
5. Solder
- Defined
- Alloys (leaded and lead–free)
- Mechanical properties (ductility and tensility)
- Lead–free solder differences and techniques
6. Heat
- Why heat is needed
- How much heat is needed
- Failure modes from overheating
- Scientific heat control and elimination of damage during hand soldering
7. Soldering vs. Welding
- Definitions
- Significance of surfaces that melt during “soldering” vs. surfaces that do not melt (the overlooked lead–free issue)
- Uses of soldering and welding in electronics assembly
8. Troubleshooting Using the Science of Soldering© Recipe
9. Prevention of Heat Damage in Hand Soldering — The Electronics Manufacturing Sciences Solution
Part 2: Skills Development — Applying the Science of Soldering© Recipe to Achieve Perfect Soldering
The hands-on soldering exercises depend on the components actually used in the client's products, including some or all of the following:
- Wiring methodologies and multi–terminal exercises: turret terminals, bifurcated terminals, eyelet terminals, cup terminals
- Through–hole soldering: IC's, transistors, capacitors, resistors; includes heat sink and solderability problem
- Surface mount soldering: resistors, transistors, MELFs, PLCCs, SOICs including fine pitch and J–leads, quad packs
- Repair techniques (through–hole and surface mount)
Part 3: Industry Standards Requirements
Throughout the entire course, the commonly accepted workmanship requirements are referenced and explained in context. This final stage sums up the requirements and verifies student comprehension.
SOLDERING IRONS KILL MODERN COMPONENTS. ONLY SCIENCE OF SOLDERING© HAS THE SOLUTION
Soldering irons operate at 300F° or more above the temperature that damages internal bonds of modern components like I.C.s., changes the value of resistors and delaminates capacitors Improper use of soldering irons is today's number one cause of electronics systems failures. (For more information, go here.)
Many companies needlessly buy expensive constant temperature irons costing hundreds of dollars. Others waste engineering time calibrating iron temperatures. Neither approach prevents heat damage. An improperly used constant temperature iron causes just as much damage as an improperly used iron with erratic temperature.
We developed a simple, easy, foolproof technique that keeps component temperature below 500° even with an iron temperature of 800°. (No, we don't recommend using 800° irons for most purposes. But a technique that works for an 800° iron works just as well at normal iron temperatures.)
Our technique works with any soldering iron, requires no additional tools or materials and takes no more time than the technique used by your operators now. And only Science of Soldering© teaches this critical technique.
Give your operators this knowledge and your failure rate will plummet.
Help Your Operators Do Better
Many companies believe that A–610 and J–STD–001 certifications equip their operators to perform better. More often than not, the memorization-based training only convinces operators that appearance is everything. It persuades operators that touchup and rework are okay. It certainly doesn't help them solder more reliably or become more efficient.
Knowing the characteristics of reliable soldering is essential but so is knowing how to achieve that reliability. That's why your operators need Science of Soldering©.
Know How to Achieve Perfect Reliability
Many people think that Class 3 requirements are hard to achieve. They aren't — provided the operator knows the process science.
Science of Soldering© ensures that your people not only know the objective — they know how to get there.
What Our Clients Say:
Real Words From Real People
Jim Smith of EMS provided very professional and well received soldering training to our entire electronics assembly staff. Our primary goal was to implement a conversion to RoHS compatible solder. This was thoroughly accomplished, along with greatly improved awareness by our staff on the basic principles of soldering. All of our soldering personnel gained a tremendous amount of knowledge and competency improvement, from the 30 year veterans to the newly hired employees. His materials and hands-on classroom instructions were well prepared and presented.
Bryan Hurlbut
Vice President of Operations
Megger USA
4271 Bronze Way
Dallas, TX 75237
Science of Soldering© was exactly what we needed to fix a lot of misconceptions about soldering. The mix of classroom work, demonstrations and hands on exercises was perfectly tailored for us. I have had nothing except positive feedback from those who attended your classes. It is exciting to see the enthusiasm that the group now has to tackle the job. I have seen information flow increasing between the Supervisors, Solder operators, Engineering and QA. Everyone has the same base of understanding now and are working together as a team instead of different departments.
Ron King
Director of Operations
Laser Devices, Inc.
Monterey, CA 93940