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A systematic approach for surfactant system selection and optimization for cleaning electronic assemblies’ residues

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Abstract

In this work, cleaning efficiency of aqueous solutions of four different surfactants was studied to remove the post soldering flux residue from printed circuit boards (PCBs). A systematic study is carried out to select surfactant system which includes dispersing efficiency, surface tension, contact angle and surface energy followed by actual cleaning test. Efficiency of the system was quantified by their solubilizing or dispersing capacity of the residue. Surface activity and wetting behavior were monitored by contact angle of the solutions on PCBs and their surface tension (ST). Polar and dispersive components of surface tension of solutions and surface free energy of PCB substrates were determined using OWRK (Owens, Wendt, Rabel and Kaelble) method. A representative cleaning test was carried out to correlate the experimental results and actual residue cleaning performance. Results suggested that HLB value is not the only criteria to select the surfactant in cleaner formulation. All the four surfactant solutions showed varying ability to disperse the selected residue. TMDE was found to be the best, and SPAN20 was the least effective in dispersing the residue. Findings of the study suggest that in order to be an efficient residue remover, a cleaning chemistry should have following three features — (a) able to solubilize or disperse the residue, (b) low ST and low contact angle on the substrate to be cleaned, and (c) polar and dispersive components of ST of the solution and those of SFE of the substrate should be a close match.

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Acknowledgements

Support and encouragement from management of MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions for this work is gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions, Cookson India Private Limited, Bangalore, 560022, India

    Saurabh Shrivastava, Mamata Rani Patra & Ansuman Das

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  1. Saurabh Shrivastava
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Shrivastava, S., Patra, M.R. & Das, A. A systematic approach for surfactant system selection and optimization for cleaning electronic assemblies’ residues. Colloid Polym Sci 299, 1979–1989 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-021-04914-6

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