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Can Water Harm Electronic Components?
A new quality assurance engineer insists electronic components should not be cleaned with water. Can you enlighten us?
Phil Zarrow, ITM Consulting With over 35 years experience in PCB assembly, Phil is one of the leading experts in SMT process failure analysis. He has vast experience in SMT equipment, materials and processes.
Jim Hall, ITM Consulting A Lean Six-Sigma Master Blackbelt, Jim has a wealth of knowledge in soldering, thermal technology, equipment and process basics. He is a pioneer in the science of reflow.
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We have been cleaning electronics including bare boards, processed assemblies and even PCBAs with batteries (under very controlled steam cleaning) with water for 11 years. Boards from production, boards from the field with no clean fluxes that were three years old and even boards with dendrites on top of capacitors with soap (saponifier in a heated wash 150F) and DI water 18 meg ohm starting (heated to 150F) and using DI water steam (18 meg ohm) and then dried for 1-12 hours in a cross flow oven at a variety of temperatures.
This has recovered the assemblies and housings even the ones that were exposed to fire (smoke damage) and flooding. Now that being said fiber optics, open mechanical relays and water intolerant parts require additional steps for cleaning but a blanket statement that water cleaning is electronic components is wrong.
Terry Munson, Sr. Consultant and President, Foresite Inc.
We have found that if the process using water as a cleaner is not managed properly, it can introduce issues with certain materials. If water is used to clean a PCB assembly that contains certain MIL-PRF-55342 precision thin film resistors made with Ni-chrome, and if the water IS NOT thoroughly dried out prior to exposure to a voltage bias across the resistor, the water will corrode the Ni-chrome resistive element. See GIDEP document # F3-I-05-01 May 3, 2005.
Paul Bibo, Yardney Technicat Products, Inc., USA
This is no surprise. The only thing about water that will hurt electronics is the contaminants in it that can be corrosive or conductive. We routinely clean products with soap & water, rinse thoroughly, and then dry completely in an oven. It's all part of the manufacturing process, designed to increase reliability by getting the dirt and contaminants out of the products.
Russ, Crane Aerospace
My only comment is that some sensors should not be washed such as fiber optic transmitters/receivers, vacuum/pressure sensors (without caps)and some transformers. This is due to the propensity for the water to become trapped inside the component.
Thomas Jacobs, Beckman Coulter
As I was doing a load of clothing I pulled my son's I touch (MP3 player) out of the washing machine. Dried it out for a month and everything works fine. After a full cycle in the machine and it still works! The reason I dried it for a full month is that I wasn't sure it would ever operate again and it was his punishment (he thought it was lost) It's been 9 months now should I expect it to fail?
Ron Dufek, US Army
Seawater, on the other hand, is deadly. We used to clean keyboards by throwing them in the dishwasher and then baking them out in a temperature test chamber for a while. Worked great!
Peter Chirivas, Flexim Americas Corporation, USA
My son left his cell phone in his pocket and it went through the complete washing machine cycle. Took it out, dried it. Works perfectly!
Sunstone Circuits, has released the newest version of their design software, PCB123. Bottom line, the design process just got easier. Sunstone Circuits
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The Juki KE2080 flexible placement system successfully places the widest range of ICs, connectors, and unique shaped components on the market. Juki Automation Systems, Inc.
Components encapsulated in plastic or organic compounds are susceptible to moisture damage. So are PCBs, all can cause early field failures. Control MSDs per IPC J-Std-033b.1 and 1601. Super Dry®
Components encapsulated in plastic or organic compounds are susceptible to moisture damage. So are PCBs, all can cause early field failures. Control MSDs per IPC J-Std-033b.1 and 1601. Super Dry®
Multicore TFN700B is a no-clean, halide-free tacky flux formulated to address the challenging requirements of package-on-package applications. Henkel Corporation
IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries 3000 Lakeside Drive, 309 S, Bannockburn, IL 60015 Phone: 978-478-5112 | Fax: 843-682-4255
Sandy Gentry, Editor | Kim Sterling, Publisher
Use the form below to submit a comment.
This has recovered the assemblies and housings even the ones that were exposed to fire (smoke damage) and flooding. Now that being said fiber optics, open mechanical relays and water intolerant parts require additional steps for cleaning but a blanket statement that water cleaning is electronic components is wrong.
Terry Munson, Sr. Consultant and President, Foresite Inc.
Paul Bibo, Yardney Technicat Products, Inc., USA
Russ, Crane Aerospace
Thomas Jacobs, Beckman Coulter
Ron Dufek, US Army
Peter Chirivas, Flexim Americas Corporation, USA
Phillip Madonia, Madonia Services, USA