November 13, 2020

Accelerating Continuous Improvement with Next Generation pH Neutral Cleaning Products

The SMTA Capital Chapter is excited to host another FREE webinar on Friday, November 13^th. The webinar will include an informative presentation given by industry expert Ravi Parthasarathy of ZESTRON Corp.

Electronic assemblies continue to grow more complex in terms of component design, board density, standoff heights, and increased use of sensitive material sets. Different market sectors may have unique materials sets that need to be considered when developing and/or selecting a chemistry for the cleaning process. These advances continually challenge the cleaning process. Often times, cleaning process improvement can be realized by increasing the cleaner mechanical energy through spray bar design, pressure and configuration, thermal energy by increasing the cleaning agent wash temperature, and chemical energy by increasing the cleaning agent concentration. However, chemical energy can also be increased through increased solvency of the cleaning agent itself.

The presentation will discuss the technical study done by Ravi Parthasarathy, M.S.Ch.E., Senior Application Engineer, ZESTRON Corporation and Terry Price, Ph.D, R&D Scientist, ZESTRON Corporation.  In this study, two EMS companies explored alternate cleaning agent options in pursuit of continuous process improvement and meeting new product cleaning challenges. Each company was using an inline cleaner with a water-based cleaning agent and each had an optimized process that met their cleaning process requirements. However, they elected to explore the benefit of a cleaning agent with greater solvency to improve overall process efficiency and cleaning performance.

This presentation reviews their current cleaning process as well as presents field data detailing the cleaning process performance improvements and resulting cleanliness levels achieved on complex electrical assemblies using a cleaning agent with greater solvency. Examples of the new challenges will be discussed, and the resulting field data detailed.

Log-in information will be sent to all registrants 24 hours prior to the presentation.

About SMTA:  30 Years Developing Solutions in Electronics Assembly

The SMTA membership is an international network of professionals who build skills, share practical experience and develop solutions in electronic assembly technologies, including microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations.  For more information or to join, please visit www.smta.org.