Cleaning circuit boards before conformal coating is a huge topic by itself. This is because cleaning circuit boards can be challenging.
However, successful cleaning of electronic circuits can be achieved by a variety of techniques.
The main methods of cleaning can include:
• Aqueous wash
• Semi-aqueous wash
• Solvent & chemical wash
• Plasma cleaning
The key to success in cleaning circuit boards is similar to the success made with conformal coating. You need to match the cleaning process, the cleaning materials and the circuit board together.
If you do this then this will give you the best results for cleaning the circuit board assembly.
Why clean circuit boards before conformal coating?
The cleaning of a printed circuit board (PCB) before conformal coating application is normally done for two key reasons:
These are:
• Contamination removal
• Process improvement
They have different effects on the lifetime of the circuit board but can be equally important.
What types of contamination may be present on a circuit board?
Cleaning is used to remove many different types of contaminants from the manufacturing and assembly processes.
The residues can come from:
• Board laminate manufacture
• Component manufacture
• Soldering assembly processes (fluxes)
• Glue and ruggedizing processes
• Operator handling (finger prints, hair)
• Machine contamination (oils and greases)
• Environmental contamination (dust)
Removing the contamination may be a priority depending on their harmfulness.
Need to find out more?
Click conformal coating cleaning for further information or contact us directly and we can help you.
If you are new to Nexus and our work on conformal coatings then a good place to go is our Start Here page or our free conformal coating eBook.
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