April 9, 2004

Folks, we have an OEM who is having trouble tinning nickel plated stranded copper wire using ROLO or ROL1 flux per J-STD-004.  The OEM tried various methods prior to tinning such as using stiff bristle acid brush using both acetone and IP alcohol to try to clean the strands prior to tinning using Sn96 solder.  The OEM also tried separating the strands, cleaning, then re-twisting the strands back together.  Nothing the OEM tried provided complete wetting/coverage of the strands.

The OEM wants to use Kester #2331-ZX flux then use warm water to clean off the residue after tinning.  Using this flux the OEM was easily able to tin the wire strands.  The flux is classified as ORH1.

Normally, my insight tells me that this type flux should not be used for tinning stranded wires.  However, have you folks had any experience with this flux?  Any suggestions on alternate flux that could be used to tin nickel stranded wires would be appreciated.  If the Kester flux is used, is there an adequate cleaning process that will provide assurance we will not have any problems?  After the wires are tinned with Sn96 solder, they are inserted into a connector solder cup and soldered using 
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ROL1 flux and Sn96 solder followed by solvent cleaning.