Joyce,

Pardo me for jumping in here ( because I started all this I feel
obligated ) but you
brought out a very critical point.

"Environmental exposure classification for electronic packaging are well
defined based on my knowledge (can't remember the document name...it has
been used so much..almost a "grandfather" clause)."

Electronic circuitry, components and materials are changing so rapidly
that these types
of classifications and "grandfather" clauses can and do create
expensive, sometimes
dangerous situations. The basic problem is there does not appear to be
any baseline information, tests, or test equipment using combined
environmental conditions. This
results in very limited testing, disputes about the relevance of the
testing methods,
diverging views of the test results, and confusion over what needs to be
done.

A very poor situation at best. There needs to be a starting
point/testing method used as a
reference to build on. Otherwise the result is ever expanding chaos.

If you have not done so please read my response to Mel Parrish (from
EMPF ) under
this "Harsh Environments?" thread.

Thank you for your time.

D. A. Douthit

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