The Storage of Solder Paste
Solder paste is usually stored in a refrigerator when kept over a long period of time. Refrigeration ensures that the solder paste maintains its properties for a longer period of time and thereby increase the shelf life of solder. The sealed(full bottle, unopen) solder paste can be stored for 6 months under refrigerated conditions of 0-10°C. The sealed solder paste can be stored for 1 month at room temperature of 23°±5°.
However, when the solder paste needs to be used, we can not just use it straight out of the tub. When stored, the viscosity of the solder paste can change as solder particles with a high specific gravity settle at the bottom of the jar. To ensure consistent viscosity, the solder paste needs to be mixed.
How to Use the Solder Paste?
The solder paste needs to be warmed up after being taken out of the refrigerator before it can be used. The warm-up time should be more than 4 hours.
Solder paste can be mixed using a solder paste mixer.
Solder paste is placed inside a jar and put into the solder paste mixing machine. The machine rotates the jar in a way that results in deaeration and mixing of solder at the same time. The solder particles settled at the bottom of the jar due to their high specific gravity are uniformly dispersed, and the paste returns to its original consistent viscosity form. In addition, the machine also eliminates the fine air bubbles that can cause solder ball scattering.
Some clients ask me if the solder paste mixer is necessary to buy.
The answer is Yes surely. Use our solder paste mixing machine MIX-A500 with dual rotation technology, you can use the solder paste well after 10-15 minutes mixing.
Automatic Solder Paste Mixer Make your Hands Free.
Kindly remind: If you don’t consider the mixer as you just need solder paste pieces each time for PCB prototyping, pls mix the solder paste manually evenly. The printing effect will be not ideal and you can’t achieve the best soldering performance if the solder paste do not mix well.
