The Uses and Benefits of Solder Wire

Solder wires are wires with a low melting point which can melt along with the soldering iron. Depending on the application and soldering temperature, many different types of soldering wires are available. Each of them comes with their own set of uses and benefits. However, there are two main types of solder wire.

Types of Solder Wire
Solder wires are generally of two different types- lead alloy solder wire and lead-free solder wire. But apart from these two, reputed solder paste suppliers, like Sumitron, offer other types of solder wires too. Let us have a detailed look at each of these wires.

What is Lead Alloy Solder Wire
These wires are usually made from an alloy of lead and tin. Tin is commonly used with lead as it has a lower melting temperature. It has an alloy ratio of 63/37 or 60/40. The first number is that of tin by weight and second is lead by weight.

Advantages of Lead Alloy Solder Wire
While both of these wires are ideal for electronic components, 63/37 is eutectic in nature. This means that this solder wire has a sharp transition between solid and liquid states when the temperature changes. This property is very useful for reducing cold joints which usually happens when the components move while cooling.

Why is it Infamous?
While lead-based solder wires have been the standard in the soldering industry for several years, the health problems associated with lead has made it a less popular choice. As a result, the lead solder wire and lead solder bar price have considerably reduced in the past few years.

Lead-Free Alloy Solder Wire
Lead-free wires usually contain tin, silver, and copper. As compared to lead alloy solder wire, lead-free wires are more expensive, and even their melting temperature is higher. This means that they require higher temperature flux. And while the soldering results with lead-free wire are pretty solid, they are highly brittle.

The Benefits of Lead-Free Alloy Solder Wire
While lead-free solders have been linked to a number of drawbacks in the last decade, many of their benefits are now being discovered. For instance, lead-free solders have played a very important role in reducing the size of handheld devices.
With tight pitches, it is now easy to mass produce solders. When small form factors with high-density semiconductors are packaged with the help of lead-free solder, they result in fewer problems as compared to lead-based solder. Better lead spacing and moisture sensitivity are some of other benefits of these wires.
Understand your soldering requirements when selecting a soldering wire to make sure that the purchase effectively suits your application. And make sure that you only rely on reputed suppliers for these wires.