[tinwhiskers] Re: Ask Slashdot - Tin whiskers - fact or fiction?
- From: "Cronk, William CIV USA AMC" <william.c.cronk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 07:19:46 -0400
So why not update tin-whiskers info on Wikipedia and add a new resource
into Knol? (Knol is http://knol.google.com/k/knol#)
Hopefully someone will...
Bill Cronk
-----Original Message-----
From: tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Landman
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2008 5:32 PM
To: tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tinwhiskers] Ask Slashdot - Tin whiskers - fact or fiction?
http://ask.slashdot.org/firehose.pl?id=720153&op=view
Submitted by bLanark on Friday June 13, @10:09AM
<http://ask.slashdot.org/search.pl?tid=222>
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
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Direct
ive> 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
<http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080221_004346.html>
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
<http://cdn.vicorpower.com/documents/rohs/tin_whiskers_wp.pdf> of
<http://www.maxim-ic.com/emmi/pdfs/TinWhisker_Position_Paper_Rev3.pdf>
research
<http://www.calce.umd.edu/lead-free/tin-whiskers/TINWHISKERALERT.pdf>
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/firehose.pl?id=720153&op=view#> -
<http://ask.slashdot.org/firehose.pl?id=720153&op=view#>
http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/15/1732216&from=rss
Tin Whiskers - Fact Or Fiction?
Posted by timothy <http://www.monkey.org/%7Etimothy/> on Sun Jun 15,
2008 03:49 PM
from the shave-before-dates dept.
<http://ask.slashdot.org/search.pl?tid=164>
<http://ask.slashdot.org/search.pl?tid=126>
bLanark <http://blanark.dyndns.org/wordpress/> 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
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restriction_of_Hazardous_Substances_Direct
ive> , 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
<http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080221_004346.html>
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
<http://cdn.vicorpower.com/documents/rohs/tin_whiskers_wp.pdf> of
<http://www.maxim-ic.com/emmi/pdfs/TinWhisker_Position_Paper_Rev3.pdf>
research
<http://www.calce.umd.edu/lead-free/tin-whiskers/TINWHISKERALERT.pdf>
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?"
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