Location: GLO - Global
This dataset represents the production of 1 kg of a wave solder flux. In the through-hole mounting technology, cleaning with a special flux is done after placement of the components, before the actual soldering process takes place. In soldering of metals, flux serves a threefold purpose: it removes oxidation from the surfaces to be soldered, it seals out air thus preventing further oxidation, and by facilitating amalgamation, improves wetting characteristics of the liquid solder.
This dataset is based on a flux that is currently used in the wave solder process of the electronics industry. It contains only information about the ingredients, based on information in a Material Safety Data Sheet of a producer of wave solder fluxes (Indium Coorperation, 2004). Electricity consumption for mixing is approximated based on data from a large chemical plant (Gendorf 2016).
References:
Hischier R., Classen M., Lehmann M. and Scharnhorst W. (2007) Life Cycle Inventories of Electric and Electronic Equipment: Production, Use and Disposal. ecoinvent report No. 18. Swiss Centre for Life Cycle Inventories, Dübendorf, CH.
Gendorf (2016) Umwelterklärung 2015, Werk Gendorf Industriepark, www.gendorf.de.
Indium Corporation (2004) Indium High Grade Wave Solder Flux #1085 - Material Data Safety Sheet. The Indium Corporation of America, Utica (NY, USA)
Undefined unit processes (UPRs) are the unlinked, multi-product activity datasets that form the basis for all of the system models available in the ecoinvent database. This is the way the datasets are obtained and entered into the database by the data providers. These activity datasets are useful for investigating the environmental impacts of a specific activity (gate-to-gate), without regard to its upstream or downstream impacts.