Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/806706
10 SMT Magazine • April 2017 joints" and will save them from cleaning costs as there should be no residues left on the board. Of course, with no-clean fluxes available for quite a long time now, a third of respondents know that using it doesn't necessarily mean clean boards, but they said they still clean their boards espe- cially when they are used in aerospace applica- tions. The soldering process offers issues and challenges so wide and complex that it would require a book to discuss in detail. Even then, new market trends will continue to drive the evolution in the soldering process and develop- ments in new solder technologies. Having said that, this month' s issue of SMT Magazine highlights some of the common chal- lenges that manufacturers face when it comes to soldering, and provides strategies to help ad- dress those issues. First, we have an interview with industry veteran Happy Holden and Saline Lectronics' Cathy Cox, who discuss the current soldering landscape and issues that assemblers face, and what they think the industry needs to be suc - cessful on this front. Next, a paper from Alpha Assembly Solu- tions' Mitch Holtzer, Karen Tellefsen and Westin Bent, explains rheology measurement as a pre- dictive tool for solder paste transfer efficiency and print volume. We also have an article on voiding control at high-power die-attach preform soldering, con - tributed by Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee, Dr. Arnab Das- gupta and Elaina Zito of Indium Corporation. MicroCare Corp.'s Venesia Hurtubise, Eliz- abeth Norwood and Wells Cunningham, have contributed an article on strategies to remove difficult lead-free and no-clean fluxes from PCB assemblies. We also have an interview with OK Interna- tional President and CEO Christopher Larocca, who discusses how their new soldering technol- ogy will disrupt the hand soldering world. Our columnist Rich Heimsch, meanwhile, focuses on solutions for long-term storage of electronic components. Last, but not least, is the second part of my interview with the EMS firm Virtex. In this inter - view, Brad Heath and Upinder Singh talk about the company's military and aerospace business and how they are addressing their customers' re- quirements. Next month, we will talk about one of the key issues facing the PCB assembly/electronics manufacturing industr y: hiring, nurturing and retaining talent. Watch out for it! SMT Stephen Las Marias is managing editor of SMT Magazine. He has been a technology editor for more than 12 years covering electronics, components, and industrial automation systems. WHAT A TANGLED (SOLDERING) WEB WE WEAVE! Solder has been a loyal servant of the electronics manufacturing industry for years; however, like any aging servant, the efficacy of solder has been waning as the in- dustry looks to make products increasingly dense. Solder has always been the weak link in the electronics manufacturing process, where a substantial number of defects are created and solder joints remain the most common site of failure in electronic systems. I-Connect007 is excited to announce the release of the next micro book in our I-007eBook library: Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach by Joseph Fjelstad. This short book discusses an alternative ap- proach to manufacturing electronic assemblies without the use of solder. Readers of Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach will be shown the numerous prospective advantages and benefits—economic, technical, and environ- mental—of this important alternative approach. "In this short but intense book, the reader will first learn about the many drawbacks of our cur- rent solder-based manufacturing process," says Dan Beaulieu of DB Management Group. "Fjelstad covers it all, from environmental and economical disadvantag- es to the many time-consuming process inefficiencies." Download the eBook here. New I-007eBook – Solderless Assembly for Electronics: The SAFE Approach