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60 SMT Magazine • April 2017 bly; however, these benefits come with hurdles of their own, including potentially detrimental residues. Processes that require high-reliability elec- tronics require high-reliability cleaning. Mod- ern vapor degreasing techniques and solvent formulations are environmentally conscien- tious, time efficient, safe and effective on some of today's most difficult soils. Although ion- ic residues may be an issue for current vapor degreasing solvents, there are new technolo- gies available to combat even the toughest flux residues. Solvents A and B showed major visu- al improvements over the Classic Solvent when cleaning no-clean and lead-free flux residues. The advanced solvents were able to remove at least 50% of the flux residue from all of the dif- ferent flux formulations during the cleaning cy- cle. Increasing cleaning cycle times or utilizing ultrasonic agitation may be able to further im- prove the visual results. The SIR evaluation confirmed that the clean- ing formulations did not impact the circuit op- eration and that any remaining residue was not detrimental to the circuit performance. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the solder suppliers involved in this study, in particular AIM Solder for supplying the necessary materi- als. Special thanks to Tim O'Neill of AIM for as- sisting with this project. SMT References 1. USA, EPA, Office of Air and Radiation Stratospheric Protection Division. The U.S. Sol- vent Cleaning Industry and the Transition to Non Ozone Depleting Substances. ICF Consulting, 1725 Eye Street, NW Washington, DC 20006. 2. M. Konrad, Cleaning and Contamination Equipment & Environment Guide, Corona, Calif. Aqueous University, 2014. 3. Highlights of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amend- ments. 4. S. Stach, M. Bixenman, "Optimizing Clean- ing Energy in Batch and Inline Spray Systems," SMTAI Conference, 2004. Editor's Note: This paper was originally pub- lished in the proceedings of SMTA International, 2016. 1. Wells Cunningham is the chief scientist and technical director at MicroCare Corp. 2. Venesia Hurtubise is a sales engineer at Mi- croCare Corp. 3. Elizabeth Norwood is a senior chemical ana- lyst at MicroCare Corp. VAPOR DEGREASING CHEMISTRIES During the recent IPC APEX EXPO 2017 show in San Diego, California, Christopher Larocca, president and CEO of OK International, tells I-Connect007 Publisher Barry Matties the story behind their new Connection Validation Soldering Station, and the benefits it brings to the industry. Larocca discusses the feedback mechanism in their new soldering system; how users are notified of good in- termetallic connection formation; the integrated 2.8-inch colored touchscreen on the power supply that displays the real-time tip temperature; and how this new technol- ogy factors into the company's Industry 4.0 strategy. To view the whole video, click here. Real Time with... IPC: OK International Brings Disruptive Technology in Hand Soldering 1 2 3