Hi Phil, The blisters that you see happen at wave solder. We have a Austin America Microjet and I run the wash at 60-psi on the top, and 50-psi on the bottom which I don't think is out of the norm for most inline cleaners. I would hope that a label could stand up to at least that. What about the bubbles beneath the kapton? Steve -----Original Message----- From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 4:34 PM To: TechNet E-Mail Forum; Steve Gregory Subject: RE: [TN] Labels that withstand Wavesolder with alcohol based flux Steve, Pictures are worth a thousand words. I think I am seeing that your white topcoat is separating from the base polyimide label stock. I thought you were saying that you adhesive holding the label onto the surface below was being attacked. I think this is either sub standard material stock issue or possibly really high spray pressure impingement, and not alcohol degrading the acrylic adhesive below. Phil -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Gregory Sent: Monday, June 10, 2013 12:05 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] Labels that withstand Wavesolder with alcohol based flux Hey Richard! Tried curing them last Friday like you said, but no joy. Still blistering up after wave and/or washing off in our inline DI cleaner. Here are a couple photos that I didn't post last week: http://stevezeva.homestead.com/BubblyLabel.jpg http://stevezeva.homestead.com/BubblyLabelClose.jpg The labels are polyimide with a white topcoat for thermal transfer printing. They are supposed to be good to 1000 F., but you can see the blistering in the close-up photo. You can also see the adhesive bubbling-up beneath the kapton in the blister at the top of the number 2. When the boards go through the DI wash, the labels either fall off, or are just about to. The adhesive has turned to mush beneath the label. I still think it's the alcohol attacking the acrylic adhesive. We sent an email to the label manufacturer who said they would forward everything to their process engineering group...still waiting to hear back from them. Anybody else had this problem? Steve Gregory -----Original Message----- From: Stadem, Richard D. [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, June 6, 2013 2:07 PM To: TechNet E-Mail Forum; Steve Gregory Subject: RE: [TN] Labels that withstand Wavesolder with alcohol based flux Whatever label you use, consider curing them at 90 deg. C for 1 hour. That helps even common paper labels to be able to withstand wash processes, etc, a little better. -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Steve Gregory Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2013 3:04 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Labels that withstand Wavesolder with alcohol based flux Hi All, I know I have had PCB label issues not standing-up to alcohol based flux and wave solder in the past and have found some that worked...but because I'm so absent minded, I forgot which ones they were. The labels that we are using now are thermal transfer ink printed, they SAY that they can withstand wave soldering processes, but the adhesive is acrylic and the alcohol in the flux attacks the adhesive, and the labels wash off in our DI cleaner. Anyone got a good recommendation for label stock? Steve ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________ ________________________________ This message and any attachments are solely for the use of the addressee and may contain L-3 proprietary information that may also be defined as USG export controlled technical data. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, use or distribution of its content is prohibited. Please notify the sender by reply e-mail and immediately delete this message and any attachments. ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service. For more information please contact helpdesk at x2960 or [log in to unmask] ______________________________________________________________________