Soldering Trivia Questions & FAQ

Solder is a fusible metal alloy with a melting point or melting range of 90 to 450 degree Celsius (190 to 840^oF), used in a process called soldering where it is melted to join metallic surfaces. It is especially useful in electronics and plumbing.

Soldering is a process in which two or more metal items are joined together by melting and flowing a filler metal into the joint, the filler metal having a relatively low melting point.

Soldering is distinguished from brazing by use of a lower melting-temperature filler metal. The filler metals are typically alloys that have liquidus temperatures below 350?C. It is distinguished from welding by the base metals not being melted during the joining process which may or may not include the addition of a filler metal.
In a soldering process, heat is applied to the parts to be joined, causing the solder to melt and be drawn into the joint by capillary action and to bond to the materials to be joined by wetting action.

One of the most frequent applications of soldering is assembling electronic components to printed circuit boards (PCBs). Another common application is making permanent but reversible connections between copper pipes in plumbing systems. Joints in sheet metal objects such as food cans, roof flashing, rain gutters and automobile radiators have also historically been soldered, and occasionally still are. Jewelry components are assembled and repaired by soldering. Small mechanical parts are often soldered as well. Soldering is also used to join lead came and copper foil in stained glass work. Soldering can also be used as a semi-permanent patch for a leak in a container or cooking vessel.

In high-temperature metal joining processes (welding, brazing and soldering), the primary purpose of flux is to prevent oxidation of the base and filler materials. Tin-lead solder, for example, attaches very well to copper, but poorly to copper oxides (which form quickly at soldering temperatures). Flux is nearly inert at room temperature, yet becomes strongly reductive when heated. This helps remove oxidation from the metals to be joined, and inhibits oxidation of the base and filler materials. Secondarily, flux acts as a wetting agent in the soldering process, reducing the surface tension of the molten solder and causing it to better wet out the parts to be joined.

Currently, mass-production printed circuit boards (PCBs) are mostly wave soldered or reflow soldered, though hand soldering of production electronics is also still standard practice for many tasks.

Hot-bar reflow is a selective soldering process where two pre-fluxed, solder coated parts are heated with heating element (called a thermode) to a sufficient temperature to melt the solder.

Laser soldering is a technique where a ~30-50 W laser is used to melt and solder an electrical connection joint. Diode laser systems based on semiconductor junctions are used for this purpose.

The Solderability of a substrate is a measure of the ease with which a soldered joint can be made to that material.

Hand-soldering tools include the electric soldering iron, which has a variety of tips available ranging from blunt to very fine to chisel heads for hot-cutting plastics, and the soldering gun, which typically provides more power, giving faster heat-up and allowing larger parts to be soldered. Hot-air guns and pencils allow rework of component packages which cannot easily be performed with electric irons and guns.
Soldering torches are a type of soldering device that uses a flame rather than a soldering iron tip to heat solder. Soldering torches are often powered by butane[17] and are available in sizes ranging from very small butane/oxygen units suitable for very fine but high-temperature jewelry work, to full-size oxy-fuel torches suitable for much larger work such as copper piping. Common multipurpose propane torches, the same kind used for heat-stripping paint and thawing pipes, can be used for soldering pipes and other fairly large objects (but not electronics,) either with or without a soldering tip attachment; pipes are generally soldered with a torch by directly applying the open flame.