The first statement was wrong. A flux must have ionic components to work properly. Water soluble fluxes leave ionic residue detectable by: ROSE testing (Omega meter, Ionograph....). This test is useful to determine whether the cleaner is in control. Commonly used throughout the industry. Ion chromotagraphy. This test determines what specific residue causes failure. Only large shops can maintain the equipment. Surface Insulation Resistance. This test actually has a correllation with field failures. None relating to residue if resistivity is above a certain level. Guaranteed if its below a certain level. The level depends upon environment, panel design and circuit design (voltage, current, impedance, spacing, indoors vs. under the hood...). This test should be done on test coupons in an environmental test lab. It is rarely done as a process control, since the test takes a week, and is not usually done on production panels. There are many systems on the market for all 3 types of testing. I won't advertise any here, for fear of naming a supplier. ARIC PARR Sr. Manufacturing Engineer Eaton Corp 1400 S. Livernois P. O. Box 5020 Rochester Hills, Mi 48308-5020 [log in to unmask] 248 608 7780 Fax: 248 656 2242 ------------- Original Text From: C=US/A=INTERNET/DDA=ID/TechNet(a)IPC.ORG, on 6/29/98 4:53 PM: To: Aric Parr@01635@Lectron_RH, EatonWHQ@CorpMail@WHQCleveOH[C=US/A=INTERNET/DDA=ID/TechNet(a)IPC.ORG] I was told that water soluble flux does not leave ionic contaminants behind, and if you want to test for contaminants you should do a surface Resistivity test. My questions are as follows: 1. Is this entirely true, or can some sort of correlation be made between the two different types of tests. 2. If surface Resistivity testing is being done should ionic contamination testing ever be done? 3. Are there any Ionic Contamination Testing systems available so we can do this test in house? 4. Are there any Surface Resistivity Testing systems available so we can do this test in house? Thanks in advance for you responses! Kathy Palumbo Viking Components ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC web site (http://jefry.ipc.org/forum.htm) for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################ ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC web site (http://jefry.ipc.org/forum.htm) for additional information. For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.312 ################################################################