Soldering fluxes invariably leave a trace of residue behind them after doing their job of cleaning corrosion from the soldered surfaces.
FR104 is formulated for the 21st century cleaning of electronic assemblies with surface mount and mixed technologies. FR104 is an extra-strength aqueous based cleaner for flux removal. Aqueous solutions are the easiest and most followed solutions worldwide for large scale as well as small scale electronic assemblies cleaning. It is suitable for use in ultrasonic cleaning systems, modified dishwashers or by hand cleaning. It is an excellent cleaner for the removal of all rosin, water soluble and no clean flux types from electronic subassemblies, printed circuit boards and all other electronic components. This concentrated formula can be diluted 1:4 with de-mineralised or filtered water for handling all cleaning applications. FR104 will effectively remove other contaminants such as dirt and handling soils.
FR104 Cleaner is a concentrated liquid cleaner which is added to water to make a non-foaming solution for removing rosin flux residue. FR104 possesses enhanced ability to dissolve flux or solder paste formulations. This assures excellent visu¬al and ionic cleanliness of circuit boards after cleaning. A significant feature of this formulation is its stable composition during use at elevated temperatures for the time saving best performance. The diluted solution is reusable. This results in less frequent discharge of the wash tank for replacement with fresh solution and in a process cost reduction. Another special feature of FR104 is it leaves solder joints bright and shiny after cleaning. FR104 eliminates the need for expensive, toxic and environmentally harmful solvents traditionally used for flux removal.
FR104 is the most economical and easiest solution to clean the PCB assemblies used in various applications such as white goods, medical & veterinary devices, industrial instruments & controls, automotive, computer, telecommunications, energy etc.
Enhanced ability to remove flux, removes encrusted, hard, baked fluxes
Effective for rosin, water-soluble and no-clean flux chemistries
Powerful cleaner leaves no residue, no dull sticky patches
Reusable hence economical
Extremely easy to use
Non-abrasive
Retains prints and colour bands on components and boards generally
Can be used in ultrasound cleaner, modified dishwashers or used for hand cleaning
At many places different solvents are used to clean PCB assemblies. The most widely used solvents are Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA), Acetone, Nitro Cellulose (NC) Thinner and similar.
The most essentials of the cleaning of PCB assemblies are the deactivation of flux and ionic cleanliness. More than 25% of PCB failures occur due to ionic contamination. Ionic contamination may cause a catastrophic failure of the assembly. Residues of flux, activators and other chemicals used during PCB assembly can accelerate contamination processes. Unlike the solvents FR104 deactivates the flux on the assemblies. In the manual hand cleaning method, dip cleaning is essential to completely remove the dust, dirt and loosened deactivated flux. Dipping is impractical in case of using solvents for many reasons and mere brushing without dipping is not sufficient to achieve the essential level of cleanliness.
| FR104 | IPA | Acetone | NC Thinner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Chemical | ||||
| Flamability | Non-inflammable1 | Highly Inflammable | Highly Inflammable | Highly Inflammable |
| Evaporation losses | Negligible | High | High | High |
| Cost | Economical | Expensive | Expensive | Expensive |
| Deactivation of flux | Yes | No | No | No |
| Post Cleaning | ||||
| Visual Cleanliness | Very High | Medium | Poor | Poor |
| Ionic Cleanliness | Very High | Poor | Poor | Poor |
| Print on parts disappear | No | Sometimes | Sometimes | Mostly |
| Damage to plastic parts | Never | Sometimes | Sometimes | Mostly |
| Removal of burnt flux | Always | Partially | Never | Never |
| Sticky patches observed | Never | Sometimes | Mostly | Mostly |
| Discoloration of parts | Never | Sometimes | Sometimes | Mostly |
| Wiping of Identification marks on PCB | Never | Sometimes | Sometimes | Mostly |
| Complete Removal of flux | Yes | No, spreads flux over PCB | No, spreads flux over PCB | No, spreads flux over PCB |
| Use method | ||||
| Use with PCB cleaning machines | Yes | Difficult | Impossible | Impossible |
| Manual work in hand cleaning | Very low | High | High | High |
| Safe solution for dip cleaning | Yes | No | No | No |
FR104 Cleaner is specifically designed for use in automatic spray cleaning equipment but can also be used in batch type washers, ultrasonic cleaners or used for hand cleaning using brush. This product contains a very effec¬tive organic anti-foaming agent. No silicone de-foamers or other oils which do not rinse completely from a circuit board as¬sembly are present in the formulation. For typical applications a dilution of 1 part of FR104 to 4 parts of de-mineralised or filtered water by volume is required. Excellent cleaning is accomplished with low foaming and minimal odour. Maintaining the solution temperature in between 45° and 55° C gives the best performance. How much FR104 will be used depends on the specific flux or solder paste formulation, the solids content of the rosin flux, the solution temperature and efficiency of the cleaning equipment.
5 L, 1 L, 500 mL Liquid concentrate.
FR104 is generally compatible with most materials used in printed circuit board assemblies. It may safely be used for PCB assemblies used in applications such as white goods, medical & veterinary devices, industrial instruments & controls etc.
This product meets the requirements of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, 2015/863/EU for the stated banned substances.
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