Wave soldering and reflow soldering are two commonly used soldering techniques in the electronic manufacturing industry, which have significant differences in principles, applications, functions, and other aspects.
The following is a detailed comparison of these two welding techniques:
1、 The principle is different
Wave soldering: Using a pump to spray melted solder into solder waves, and then passing the pins of the electronic components that need to be soldered through the solder waves to achieve electrical interconnection between the electronic components and the PCB board.
Reflow soldering: By heating and melting the solder paste pre coated on the solder pad, the pins or terminals of electronic components pre mounted on the solder pad are electrically interconnected with the solder pads on the PCB, in order to achieve the purpose of soldering electronic components on the PCB board.
2、 Different uses
Wave soldering: suitable for hand inserted boards and adhesive pads, requiring all components to be heat-resistant. Wave soldering technology can achieve fast and efficient soldering of a large number of components.
Reflow soldering: suitable for surface mount electronic components.
Reflow soldering can quickly and efficiently fix electronic components while providing high-precision soldering.
3、 Different functions and processes
Wave soldering:
Function: Wave soldering is usually divided into two types: single wave soldering and double wave soldering, with double wave soldering being more widely used due to its higher soldering quality and stability.
Process: one wave soldering machine is divided into four parts: spray, preheating, tin furnace and cooling.
The wave soldering process includes inserting, applying flux, preheating, wave soldering, cutting edges and corners, and inspection.
Reflow soldering:
Function: Reflow soldering passes through the preheating zone, reflow zone, and cooling zone.
Modern reflow soldering machines adopt digital control, which can monitor and adjust welding parameters in real time to ensure welding quality and reliability.
Process: The reflow soldering process includes printing solder paste, mounting components, reflow soldering, and cleaning.
4、 Other differences
Welding quality: Wave soldering has a high welding quality due to the long contact time between the molten solder and the component pins, resulting in a stable welding process.
Reflow soldering can also provide stable and uniform soldering quality, thereby improving product reliability and durability.
Production efficiency: Wave soldering adopts an assembly line operation method, which can achieve rapid soldering of a large number of components, greatly improving production efficiency.
Reflow soldering is also suitable for large-scale mass production, which can be automated and save time and cost.
