This continues to be an interesting discussion. It still appears that the
road ahead will not be all that smooth.

And I still lament the fact that the EU parliament has mandated the use of
non traditional solders without having any scientific evidence of harm from the
traditional solders they are slated to replace nor data to support the assumed
assertion of lack of harm of all alternatives they will allow.

With that obligatory reminder aside, ;-)

I also read Dr. Jennie Hwang's comprehensive post. Not being a metallurgist I
had a read it more than once. What popped for me was the last sentence which
reads:

"However, 96.5Sn3.5Ag solder joints are expected fail earlier than 63Sn37Pb
solder joints at smaller in-service cyclic strain ranges."

With all of the information that preceded it, it was a comment that garnered
my attention as the statement spoke to the "smaller in-service cyclic strain
ranges".

Though such potential ranges are not specifically defined in the body of the
text, I assume that they reference ranges that commercial products are most
likely to see in actual use.

The only logical conclusion that I can come up with from the foregoing
(unless I am somehow misinterpreting the words) is that those products using the
topic SAC alloy and experiencing "smaller in-service cyclic strain ranges" will
be less reliable in use.

I realize there may be other interpretations.

Kind regards to all,
Joe

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------Leadfee Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8d
To unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the BODY (NOT the subject field): SIGNOFF Leadfree
To temporarily stop delivery of Leadree for vacation breaks send: SET Leadfree NOMAIL
Search previous postings at: http://listserv.ipc.org/archives
Please visit IPC web site http://www.ipc.org/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------