BS EN ISO 9455-16:2001 specifies a method for assessing the efficacy of a soft soldering flux, known as the wetting balance method. It gives a qualitative assessment of the comparative efficacy of two fluxes (for example, a standard and a test flux), based on their capacity to promote wetting of a metal surface by liquid solder. The method is applicable to all flux types in liquid form classified in BS EN 29454-1:1994, ISO 9454-1:1990.
It is hoped that future developments using improved techniques for obtaining a reproducible range of test surfaces will enable this method for assessing flux efficacy to be quantitative. For this reason several alternative procedures for preparing the surface of the test piece are included in the present method.
