Hi Graham - Please find out what flux (i.e. product name: Kester XXX or Alpha YYY or Indium ZZZ, etc.) the component fabricator used in his test. Also find out which solderability specification did they use (IPC-JSTD-002C or MIL-STD-XXX) and which solderability test method did they use (Method A or B or...). If you can get those facts, I can tell you if they followed the specification requirements. My guess is that they used an incorrect flux. Dave Hillman JSTD-002 specification Chairman [log in to unmask] Graham Collins <[log in to unmask]> Sent by: TechNet <[log in to unmask]> 02/06/2009 08:12 AM Please respond to TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>; Please respond to [log in to unmask] To [log in to unmask] cc Subject [TN] Part solderability Hi guys. A while back I rejected a bunch of parts due to non wetting when we went to solder them. The manufacturer has come back with a response to our guys, saying that they did a steam aging test on them and they passed fine. He wants to discuss it with us. Obviously this is not good - they pass his test but I can't solder the things. Which makes me suspect his test... but makes him suspect my process. I don't know enough about steam aging tests to discuss this well. Obviously I need to ask what kind of flux he is using, but anything else? Our process is SnPb, we use RMA flux, and the wave soldering machine runs at 500F for the pot. This is on an assembly that we have happily built for about 7 years, with the same manufacturer of part, and no process changes that I can identify as significant. The part is what I would call marginally solderable, if we hand solder it and put a fair bit of heat to the lead we can get it to solder, but not well or easily. No previous soldering issues with the part. regards, Graham Collins Halifax Production Engineering L-3 communications Electronic Systems (902) 873-2000 ext. 6215 --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 15.0 To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Technet To temporarily halt or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------