Solder Types And Specifications

Solder is used to join metal parts of electronics units. While working on electronics, you would come across many different types of solder like pallets, wires, and paste. Wires are most commonly used in labs where a junction or a point needs to be soldered or for training purposes, but for advanced use where PCB is used, we mostly use solder paste. Two main classes of solders are:

·         Lead-Based Solder is made from an alloy using a 60/40 ratio of lead and tin, but other types are also available. Most solder available in wires is lead-based. It is recommended to use 0.4mm to 0.7 mm thick wires to have better soldering connections.

·         EU countries now require lead-Free Solder to prevent the health hazard of lead. The con of using this solder is that it requires a little high-temperature range to work with.

Flux is another element that is sometimes added to solder wires to make the soldering process smooth by changing the surface tension. Below are the images. You could see the thickness of solder against lead-based and lead-free solders.

 

Figure 1 Lead Alloy Solder Specifications

Figure 2 Lead-Free Solder Specifications

Table  Reference: 

 https://www.heraeus.com/media/media/het/media_het/products_4/solder_materials_pics/

 

Some famous solder wire products available in the market with thickness and flux details can be found in the table below:

 

Table 1 Solder Products with Specifications

Product	Thickness in inches	Flux Content
Kester Solder	0.031	1.5% Rosin
Maiyum Solder Wire	0.031	1.8% Rosin
Wyctin Solder Wire	0.023	1.8% Rosin
Austor Solder	0.02	2% Rosin
Canfield Solder	0.125	N.A.