Kapton[R] tape: the duct tape of the electronics industry.Many of us keep a roll of duct tape duct tape n. A usually silver adhesive tape made of cloth mesh coated with a waterproof material, originally designed for sealing heating and air-conditioning ducts. Noun 1. handy to patch various objects around the house. The electronics industry has its own form of duct tape--Kapton. Kapton is able to maintain its physical, electrical and mechanical properties over a wide temperature range. The most obvious use of the tape is to hold objects in place. The tape can be used to hold a PCB PCB: see polychlorinated biphenyl. PCB in full polychlorinated biphenyl Any of a class of highly stable organic compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl, a two-ring compound. down in a carrier pallet if the proper mechanisms are not available. Double-backed Kapton works well to keep thin flex circuits in place during processing--preventing through-hole parts from floating up during wave solder. The tape can also prevent thermocouple wires from moving while running a reflow (1) The process of heating and melting the solder that has been screen printed onto a printed circuit board in order to bond chips and other components to the board. Surface mount chips (SMT) use the reflow method. Contrast with wave soldering. See also reflowable text. or wave solder profile. Tiny or odd-shaped parts can be held steady while soldering them in place. The polyimide Pronounced "poly-ih-mid." A type of plastic (a synthetic polymeric resin) originally developed by DuPont that is very durable, easy to machine and can handle very high temperatures. Polyimide is also highly insulative and does not contaminate its surroundings (does not outgas). tape may also be used as a thermal shield since it does not degrade in typical electronic assembly thermal processing. Kapton can be applied on top of labels or components that would be damaged during rework or other thermal processing and can function as a mask to prevent heat damage or solder wetting during wave solder or solder pot operations. Other uses include: masking undesired solder paste Solder paste (or solder cream) is a mix of small solder particles and flux. It is used extensively in the automated soldering processes wave soldering and reflow soldering. stencil stencil, cutout device of oiled or shellacked tough and resistant paper, thin metal, or other material used in applying paint, dye, or ink to reproduce its design or lettering upon a surface. apertures; providing an electrical barrier to prevent component bodies shorting to open vias that may be underneath a component; holding up the corners of problem BGAs to prevent the joints from collapsing unevenly; and preventing labels from washing during high pressure cleaning. Chris Parker is a process engineer and Phil Yates is chief technology officer at Nextek, Inc., Madison, AL; e-mail chris.parker@nextekinc.com or philip.yates@nextekinc.com. Do you have a "Bright Idea" that could benefit others in the assembly industry? Send your idea and complete contact information to Holly Collins; e-mail: If your idea is selected, we'll send you a Circuits Assembly T-shirt. |
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