Stanyl® provides the best solution for lead-free soldering

Lead-free soldering challenges insulator integrity due to the higher pre-heat and peak temperatures in the profile; reliability and reject rates during assembly become major concerns. During lead free soldering, connectors can have a short term exposure to temperatures as high as 270°C. At these temperatures the performance of the connector can degrade due to changes to the polymer material.

Stanyl outperforms competitive materials on all these factors. Stanyl results in lower reject rates and lower system costs for lead-free soldering than any other option available.

Additionally, Stanyl has an unmatched combination of properties that are ideal for reliable low cost connector manufacturing, especially ease of processing. Flow and cycle times are comparable to LCP and tool temperatures are lower than almost all competitive materials

Key issues in lead-free soldering

Melting and/or deformation of materials previously used without problems- in SMT (surface mount technology): PPS, semi-aromatics nylons (PPA), PCT- in PTH (pin through hole) : PBT, PA6
Reliability of the connector due to loss of mechanical integrity as the insulator relaxes at the higher soldering temperature. Consequences are a worsening of pin retention, pin misalignment and rising reject rates
Increased occurrence of blistering, affecting ALL materials

Product strength after lead-free SMT

% Change in pin retention strength after SMT soldering

Issues during assembly of the connectors to other devices

The connector walls need to withstand the insertion forces into the motherboards and other devices. Wall strength becomes very important.
The connector pins need to be very firmly located to ensure signal integrity through the pin, so pin retention strength becomes a critical factor.
The connectors need to perfectly mate with other very close toleranced connecting devices. Co-planarity must be ensured so that the pins are perfectly aligned; warpage must be non-existant

Dealing with the issues

Melting point and modulus retention as f(T,t) are sufficiently above peak solder temperatures so that no deformation occurs. This is especially important now that increasingly tighter dimensional tolerances are commonly being specified.

Heat Distortion Temperature (HDT) of different insulator materials

Pin retention strength
Stanyl significantly reduces failures due to pin pull out during use, when compared to LCP or semi-aromatic polyamides. Stanyl retains its properties after lead free soldering much better than other materials commercially used for connectors. Stanyl also has excellent creep resistance so that connectors made with Stanyl maintain their high pin retention characteristics throughout the useful life of the component.

Stanyl exhibits the best retention of properties both at high temperatures and after high temperature treatments (short term as in soldering profiles) and the best creep resistance. Its ductility and low anisotropy of mechanical properties are superior to other materials. Stanyl has a high weld-line strength, greatly reducing the tendency for pins to breakout during insertion.