Throughout the jewelry industry, the use of flux technology plays an often misunderstood role in jewelry manufacturing. Traditional chemical fluxes rely on chlorinated or fluorinated compounds to facilitate metal amalgamation, reduce surface oxidation, and promote solder flow by chemically cleaning the metals to be joined. This use of active halide flux chemistry in jewelry manufacturing has led to increasing concerns about jeweler health and the impact to the environment. Both in the United States and European Union, current and proposed legislation seeks to severely restrict the use of chlorinated and fluorinated compounds, including traditional fluxes, in the workplace. As an alternative to active fluxes, an innovative class of ceramic passive fluxes offers the opportunity to mitigate health and environmental risks while improving process performance. Notable properties include the capability to exploit key physical metallurgical properties at each stage of the solder weld temperature cycle, arrest surface oxidation, and reduce finishing times.

Author: Oliver Passe