What are the dangers associated with water soluble fluxes?
A. Water soluble fluxes (WSFs) are more aggressive in their ability to strip oxides. The degree of aggressiveness depends on the activators used. A WSF, as a corrosive material, does not know when to stop stripping oxide. Consequently, if you don’t clean the flux residues off, then it will continue to eat away the base metal. Electrical leakage currents and metal migration are also common failures with incomplete WSF removal. If you have a crappy cleaning process, expect to see many failures in accelerated testing and in the field.
