Printed Circuit Board Labels for Lead-Free
Electronics Manufacturing

ID Label Manufactures preprinted barcode and blank labels for applications that must withstand harsh thermal and chemical exposures and still provide reliable read rates. Not your ordinary label request, but then again, ID Label is no ordinary label converter. Electronic manufacturer’s production processes widely vary when it comes to manufacturing conditions, wave soldering, fluxes, chemical washes and cleaners. ID Label’s polyimide products are WEEE and RoHS compliant which mandate lead free manufacturing. Lead free solder alloys require higher processing temperatures than traditional tin-lead (Sn-Pb) alloys thereby reducing the process window and focusing on the need for rigorous control of thermal process during smoldering. The higher temperatures may also require that standard polyimide labels be changed to new polyimide labels designed for the lead-free processes. Since electronics manufacturers use both lead and lead-free processes, a colored polyimide label option is the perfect solution for identifying and differentiating between the two processes. Our extensive testing and customer feedback helped us come up with two products for electronics manufacturing.

FS016 is a 2 mil Amber Polyimide (Kapton ®) material with a 2 mil pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive is designed for barcode and alphanumeric identification of printed circuit boards, or related electronic components. FS016 can withstand mixed circuit board processes, on either the top or bottom side of board and has excellent resistance to harsh fluxes, cleaners, saponifiers, and wave soldering environments. FS016 polyimide labels pass MIL-STD-202F method 215J chemical wash test. FS016 withstands temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit depending on time of exposure and had no visible effect at 600 degrees Fahrenheit for 50 minutes.

FS028 is a 2 mil ESD White polyimide (Kapton ®) material with a 2 mil pressure sensitive acrylic adhesive is designed for Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). FS028 minimizes ESD buildup when the label is peeled from the liner. Typical ESD values for FS028 are <25 volts/sq. in. although many times the voltage is not measurable. ESD can seriously damage almost any electronic component and many standard polyimide labels can discharge 5000 volts when removed from its release liner. This product also withstands temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit depending on time of exposure.

The above materials can be ordered in kits if your application requires on-demand printing or if you prefer to print labels yourself. ID Label stocks both the FS016 and FS028 in rolls of 500 along with the same premium resin ribbon we use to produce custom preprinted labels.