[tinwhiskers] Ask Slashdot - Tin whiskers - fact or fiction?

  • From: "Bob Landman" <rlandman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 8 Aug 2008 17:32:20 -0400

http://ask.slashdot.org/firehose.pl?id=720153&op=view

Submitted by bLanark on Friday June 13, @10:09AM 


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 plenty of research 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? 
+ - 

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/15/1732216&from=rss

Tin Whiskers ? Fact Or Fiction? 
Posted by timothy on Sun Jun 15, 2008 03:49 PM
from the shave-before-dates dept. 
  
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' ? crystalline limbs of metal. The effect 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 
this up this some time ago, but 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 plenty of 
research 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: 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?" 

Other related posts: