bLanark writes "Some time ago, most electronics were soldered with old-fashioned lead solder, which has been tried and tested for decades. In 2006, the EU banned lead in solder, and so most manufacturers switched to a lead-free solder. Most made the switch in advance, I guess due to shelf-life of products and ironing out problems working with the new material.
Lead is added to solder as it melts at low temperature, but also, it prevents the solder from growing "whiskers" — crystaline limbs of metal.
The affect of whiskers on soldered equipment would include random short-circuits and strange RF-effects. Whiskers can grow fairly quickly and become quite long
Robert Cringley wrote up this some time ago, and, it seems that the world has *not* been taking notice. I guess cars (probably around 30 processors in a modern car) and almost every appliance would be liable to fail sooner than expected due to tin whiskers. Note that accelerated life-expectancy tests can't simulate the passing of time for whiskers to grow.
I've googled and there is plentyofresearch into the effects of tin whiskers. I should point out that the wikipedia page linked to above states that tin whisker problems "are negligible in modern alloys", but can we trust Wikipedia?
So, my question is: was the tin whisker problem overhyped, was it an initial problem that has been solved in the few years since lead-free solder came into use, or is it affecting anyone already?"
This discussion was created for logged-in users only, but now has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Tin whiskers - fact or fiction? 0 Comments More Login /
Get More Comments