Yes. Absolutely you should be concerned.
First, nickel alone cannot be used. There needs to be a protective alloy
over the nickel to prevent nickel oxides from forming. Standard
electronic fluxes do not work for nickel oxides.
Secondly, nickel is a poor surface to solder to. It has a much slower
dissolution rate than tin or tin-lead. It requires more heat over a
longer time in order to form a good intermetallic formation. 

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bloomquist, Ken
Sent: Tuesday, March 28, 2006 8:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] Nickel Lead Finish

We were just notified by one of our capacitor manufacturers that they
were going lead free and their replacement finish will be nickel. These
are surface mount parts.

If my memory serves we had trouble soldering nickel leads some years ago
on some TO-5 parts.

We are a class 3 manufacturer and will continue to use lead in our
solder. Should we be concerned about the solderability of the nickel
lead finishes?

Thanks,

KennyB

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