Technologies
- Welding, Coating and Material Processing
  - Joining

Soldering

Soldering offers advantages to a wide range of industry sectors and applications, particularly where there is a need to join dissimilar materials and complex shapes.

The main advantage is that, unlike fusion welding, parent materials to be joined do not need to be melted. In fact, joining can be accomplished at much lower temperatures. This makes soldering the ideal solution for joining materials such as:

Many metals such as copper, tin, nickel, iron, silver, gold and their alloys
Other metals coated with solderable metals
Ceramics with appropriate solderable metal coatings

Other advantages include:

Potentially ductile joints
Minimal shape change to parts
Minimal post-finishing – capillarity holds the solder close to the joint (may require flux removal)
Provides reliable electrical connection
Can be a localised low heat input process, or applied as an oven bulk heating process

The key to successful soldering lies in choosing process conditions appropriate to the circumstances. Surface cleanliness and correct thermal profile are critical factors in achieving continuous and uniform wetting of the surfaces of the components by the solder, activating any flux used and allowing ease of de-fluxing, and minimising porosity and excessive intermetallic compounds in the joint.

TWI's multi-disciplinary team has several decades of experience in soldering components over a large size range, and with many processes ranging from the humble soldering torch, through surface-mount-technology to precision laser reflow.

We take pride in offering a full and rounded solution to our Members, and take great care to ensure that we recommend the techniques that best suit your circumstances, paying particular attention to:

Process selection, including method of application of the solder and flux
Metallurgy and solder material selection
Component design and jigging
Testing and the effect on joint reliability of ageing and environmental factors

Our advice is always impartial and we are not allied to the suppliers of any particular suppliers of diffusion bonding equipment.

Our track record includes research and the practical application of soldering techniques for: