Not sure if this completely relevant..

We have been working with researchers in the UK, at Leicester university and they have developed a new, cheap, non-toxic, ionic-liquid flux.

Using this flux they have successfully soldered directly onto oxidised Nickel as well as oxidised Copper surfaces. 

A new surface finish they are looking to develop with this flux is the HASLEN (Hot-air Solder Levelled Electroless Nickel), which is a next generation replacement to the standard HASL finish. 

For more information see (http://pcb.iconnect007.com/index.php/article/89160/haslen-a-new-high-reliability-surface-finish-for-pcbs/89163/?skin=pcb)
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-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stadem, Richard D.
Sent: 13 August 2015 15:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Solderable Nickel?

Nickel is quite soluble in solder if not oxidized. There are many methods of preventing oxidation, including immersion gold plating (standard ENIG), OSP, and other organic or polymer coatings that are pre-stripped just prior to processing. This is very common.
I am just clarifying this for those who may not understand this thread because your emails seem to indicate that nickel is not solderable, period.
While nickel's rate of dissolution into molten solder is much slower than copper, silver, or gold, it is still quite solderable if not oxidized, and must be protected.

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Vladimir Igoshev
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 8:06 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Solderable Nickel?

We are on the same wavelength then:-). In essence, everyone literally solder either to Cu or your Ni.

There are only two ways of soldering to Ni I can think of: either have a rather strong flux (as you pointed out), or have something like "OSP" preserving its surface. ‎I've never heard of such thing though but it doesn't mean it can not exist.


Regards,

Vladimir
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Rogers network.
  Original Message
From: David Hillman
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 08:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Reply To: TechNet E-Mail Forum
Subject: Re: [TN] Solderable Nickel?

Hi Vlad - let's characterize nickel this way: in general, nickel is solderable with the aggressive fluxes. The majority of the flux formulations used by many of the High Performance OEMs are ROL0 materials which traditionally were not very compatible with nickel surface finishes.
The flux formulations being used are not aggressive. So I have the some question as Ben - what's different about these new "solderable nickel"
surface finishes? I have subjected them to 150C bake for 4 hours and they meet the IPC-JSTD-002 testing criteria. Pretty impressive.

Dave

On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 7:27 AM, Vladimir Igoshev < [log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Ni in general is solderable. The clues to on is "for how long"! Are 
> you sure the parts font have a thin layer of Sn over Ni?
>
> ‎Regards,
>
> Vladimit
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Rogers network.
> Original Message
> From: Gumpert, Ben
> Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 07:35
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Reply To: TechNet E-Mail Forum
> Subject: [TN] Solderable Nickel?
>
> TechNetters,
>
> I've received several components recently that were plated with 
> 'solderable nickel' and to my surprise they soldered just fine (using 
> a
> ROL0 flux).
> Anyone know what is going on to keep the nickel from oxidizing?
>
> Ben
>
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