Press-in vs. soldering? Pressing in and soldering!

With a comprehensive, data-based approach, the automotive supplier is striving for true climate neutrality, ranging from raw material extraction and suppliers to production and recycling, and with a corresponding mindset wants to take the entire workforce with it. In this way, climate neutrality becomes a goal that does not represent a burden, but rather strengthens production, products and innovative strength. Thus, the first presentation in the early evening already set the tone for the upcoming dialog on the next day. This was followed by a plant tour through the Ersa flow-cycle production facility, which had just been awarded the title of "Factory of the Year", and the evening event on the roof terrace directly adjacent to the seminar rooms.

Day two started with the topic "Surface Mount Technology", which Ersa Reflow Product Manager Michael Haas located between the basics of SMD line production and vacuum reflow soldering, which has a positive influence on voids in solder joints – with increasing product quality and maximum energy efficiency. The enormous range of components on a PCB was also mentioned, which often holds between 100 and 800 components – soldering is still the standard process for countless assemblies, but the proportion of press-fit components is increasing noticeably.

Matthias Ehrenfried and Achim Engel from Würth Elektronik ICS then presented the "Functionality and application of press-fit technology". In terms of intelligent power and control systems, the company offers components and system solutions from a single source – from simple components to complete system solutions, whether as standard or customized solutions for numerous well-known manufacturers of mobile machinery and commercial vehicles. About the technology itself: Press-fit technology is a connection technology in which a press-fit pin is pressed into the plated-through hole of a printed circuit board. This produces a gas-tight, high-performance electrical connection with low electrical resistance and high reliability. This is particularly suitable for high-current and heavy-duty applications. Pressfit technology offers a number of advantages, including a seamless, homogeneous material transition, excellent mechanical stability (vibration resistance) and it does not subject the PCB to thermal stress. In addition, the process conserves resources, is suitable for double-sided assembly (reduced installation space), is recyclable and requires no cleaning (flux-free process). Established on the market for many years with permanently reliable connections, press-fit technology has recently experienced a significant upswing due to the increasing demand for high-current applications.

Jürgen Friedrich took on the topic of "Through Hole Technology: soldering vs. press-fit" and, as Head of Application Technology at Ersa GmbH, shed light on both technological approaches. "The goal of electronic assemblies is quickly defined: Reliability, especially under the operating conditions out in the field," says Jürgen Friedrich, who is receiving more and more inquiries from customers about press-fit technology – even though in many cases soft soldering still dominates as a material connection. With a view to important boundary conditions such as process window, soldering heat requirement, wetting time and current-carrying capacity, the requirements to be met must be qualified in each individual application. Important issues such as reducing the soldering heat requirement of individual solder joints should ideally already be taken into account during design for manufacturing. Depending on this, press-fit technology may also come into play in certain cases. "The advantage of press-fit technology is clearly that the assembly is not subjected to any additional thermal stress for this purpose and the connection is very reliable – on the other hand, with soft soldering we have significantly more parameters through which we can optimize our soldering results. Ultimately, each user must decide for himself which process is the best solution – and we are of course happy to provide advice," said Jürgen Friedrich. Before the final expert talk with PCB, Pin & Co. went into depth in terms of content, General Sales Manager Rainer Krauss presented an automated press-fit system including process monitoring, with which Ersa, as the No.1 system supplier for electronics manufacturing, will expand its portfolio in the direction of press-fit technology. "Press-fit is an important complementary technology that will enable us to open up new energy-efficient applications for our customers. This means no decision between press-fit or soldering – we will be dealing with press-fit AND soldering in the future. Many thanks to all speakers and participants for the exciting contributions that brought the topic closer to us!"