How can yo study something that is non-existent—"brains of the EU politicians"? the good news, there is lots of room for growth. Werner -----Original Message----- From: Norman Dancer <ndancer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Fri, 15 May 2009 4:43 pm Subject: [tinwhiskers] Re: New study on coating to mitigate whiskers Be sure to test the brains of the EU politicians. They’ve definitely got something growing there. J (OK, I’ll behave myself now). From: tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Fritz, Dennis D. Sent: Friday, May 15, 2009 11:41 AM To: tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [tinwhiskers] Re: New study on coating to mitigate whiskers What is your whiskers inspection methodology? I am getting ready to do a study with Purdue undergraduate interns (who work for a VERY attractive price for our program). We will determine both the extent of whiskers growth on commercial boards - scrap cell phones and laptops, and the ease of measurement by "semi-skilled" operators. We will be using optical microscope, enhanced di gital microscope, and simple SEM. Can you share your proceedures? Denny Fritz SAIC - Merrillville, IN From: tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Jim Bunn Sent: Fri 5/15/2009 10:55 AM To: tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [tinwhiskers] Re: New study on coating to mitigate whiskers I think they are saying it works if the thickness is at least 2mils. Or maybe that the coating is better than nothing. We have a lot of uncoated stuff out there running a test right now. And it's pretty comprensive considering the voltage levels that we are using in the PCUs. I'm suprised that we have not had some kind of problem. ________________________________ From: tinwhiskers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of Pedro Tort Sent: Thu 5/14/2009 7:48 AM To: tinwhiskers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [tinwhiskers] New study on coating to mitigate whiskers The National Physics Laboratory in UK has undertaken a study on the capability of different coatings to mitigate tin whiskers growth. The results of this investigation reinforces the findings of Jay Bruse and Dr. Henning Leidecker who back in 2007 found the Uralane 5750 Polyurethane was an effective mitigation strategy for tin whiskers provided the nominal coating thickness was 2mils. I quote from the first issue of the NPL Electronics Interconne ction Newsletter: "The use of conformal coatings is seen as the only practical means of controlling whisker growths shorting adjacent conductors on a PCB. NPL has studied three types of coating, to assess their effectiveness for inhibiting whisker growth. Two coatings, polyurethane and paraxylene both were found to reduce the growth of whiskers for up to 150 days of testing, compared with failure of 14 days for uncoated samples. The acrylic coating was found not to perform as well as the others in parallel tests. All coatings failed to provide sufficient protection in areas of insufficient coating coverage, at corners and sides of the test samples." Pedro Tort Quality Manager DigiProces, S.A. Solsones, 87 - P.I. Pla de la Bruguera P.O. Box 127 E-08211 CASTELLAR DEL VALLES TEL. +34 937 142 132 FAX. +34 937 142 072 www.digiproces.com This email and any files contained therein is confidential and may contain privileged information. If you are not the named addressee(s) or you have otherwise received this in error, you should not distribute or copy this e-mail or use any of its content for any purpose. Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail in error and delete it from your system