Before going into why you would want to Dry Pack Components, it might help to briefly cover what Dry Packing is all about.

All Electronic Components are like sponges, and absorb moisture from the air. Both the BODY and the LEADS absorb moisture. This moisture can cause problems when the components are soldered onto the board, especially in a reflow oven. Dry Packing goes a long way to protect components from absorbing moisture.

Dry Packing is when components that have been BAKED (all the moisture literally baked out) are put into a MOISTURE VAPOR BARRIER BAG along with desiccant and a Humidity Indicator Card (HIC). This DRY PACK BAG controls the amount of moisture that can get to the components and the desiccant absorbs it. The HIC lets you see when its time to change the desiccant or re-bake the components.

Why worry about Moisture?

When electronic components are soldered (especially in a re-flow oven) to the PC board after chip placement, the molecules of water that have been absorbed into the pores of the body and leads are superheated so fast in a reflow oven that they don’t have time to evaporate, so they EXPLODE into vapor. Yes, literally explode!

Exploding moisture can crack the body and cause bulges to appear and in more extreme cases, the escaping moisture can blow chunks out of the body! Moisture escaping from inside the body can also damage the wire bonding making the component complete junk.

What happens if the Moisture really does EXPLODE? Fine pitch solder joints are easily shorted out because the moisture absorbed into the leads splatters the molten solder across the solder joints during re-flow. It’s like shaking up a can of soda and popping the lid. (And it’s a lot more expensive to clean up!)

Another concern is oxidation that can form on the leads. Once a lead is oxidized, the integrity of the finished solder joint is weakened. Depending on the project and application, this can be critical.

If all this wasn’t enough, another problem is the adhesion of the Cover Tape can be can changed depending on moisture and temperature exposure. If the Cover Tape looses adhesion and comes off too soon, Components can fall out of the carrier tape; if it gets too much adhesion it will tear the carrier tape apart and components will probably fly all over the place.

This concern is why many components that are shipped internationally are routinely Dry Packed.

All this can be prevented just by Dry Packing Components that have had the moisture removed. The Dry Pack Bag is actually a MOISTURE BARRIER and keeps moisture and other contaminants away from the components. Nitrogen back flushing is usually used to ‘flush’ any oxygen out of the Dry Pack Bag before sealing. The Desiccant absorbs incoming moisture and the Humidity indicator card lets you know when to change the Desiccant.

Usually, the cost of Dry Packing is LESS THAN REWORKING A SINGLE ERROR. You might find that hard to believe, but its true. Especially when you’re dealing with expensive or hard to find components.

When should YOU Dry Pack components?

You should always dry pack components that are classified as MOISTURE SENSITIVE by the manufacturer.

You should dry pack components that are being shipped overseas or to facilities where there might not be climate controlled storage.

You should dry pack any component that might be stored for over 90 days or stored where the temp. and humidity are not controlled to 70 deg. F and less than 30% Relative Humidity.

Benefits

Less Damage to components

Better solder-ability

Fewer failures and reworks

Fewer Customer Complaints

High Customer Satisfaction Rate

To learn more or to get a quote please contact us at?: moreinfo@Actaping.com