What is wave soldering?
Wave soldering is one of the two commonly used soldering processes in PCB assembly. It is usually used for DIP plug-in soldering. If the PCB board size is too large during PCB assembly, wave soldering process is used for soldering. Let's take a detailed look at what wave soldering is.
When performing wave soldering, wave soldering equipment is required. Unlike the reflow soldering process, the principle of wave soldering is to put the solder into the machine's tin trough, and the machine heats the solder to melt it. The soldering surface of the PCB board with already inserted components comes into contact with the liquid solder through the conveyor device and forms a solder joint after cooling. This is the principle of wave soldering. Due to the pump pressure of the electric pump or electromagnetic pump, the surface of the liquid solder will form a specific shape of waves, similar to waves, hence the name wave soldering.
The advantages of wave soldering mainly include the following points. Firstly, wave soldering can achieve high production efficiency. Compared with manual soldering, wave soldering can quickly complete a large amount of electronic component soldering work, greatly improving production efficiency. Secondly, wave soldering has high soldering accuracy. Since the soldering system can accurately control the temperature and flow rate of the solder, the soldering quality is guaranteed. In addition, the solder joint structure between the pin of the electronic component and the printed circuit board after wave soldering is firm and can withstand large mechanical stress and temperature changes, thereby ensuring the stability and reliability of electronic products.
Of course, wave soldering also has some disadvantages. For example, due to the high temperature in the soldering area, special attention needs to be paid to the heat dissipation of the electronic components, otherwise component damage may occur. In addition, the wave height and wave shape in the soldering area need to be adjusted according to different electronic components, so different soldering parameters need to be set for different electronic components, increasing production costs and complexity.
Overall, wave soldering, as an efficient, accurate, and reliable electronic component soldering process, has become an indispensable process in the electronic manufacturing industry. In the future, with the continuous development and innovation of electronic products, wave soldering technology will continue to be improved and optimized to meet the changing market needs and technological requirements.