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Subject:
From:
Gregg Owens <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, Gregg Owens <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:42:30 -0800
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text/plain (292 lines)
Common sense rarely makes good politics. 

My personal TVs are old and I have no plans to upgrade as I figure any new ones will only have to be replaced far more frequently than my old lead solder TVs. 

Gregg Owens
Technical Writer - Avionics
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Burke
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 11:02 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] [LF] [tinwhiskers] FW: [SMART] Very useful RoHS review conference report

 Excellent summary - suggest that If Mike Butow is on the forum he may want
to publish this?


John Burke
(408) 515 4992


-----Original Message-----
From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Landman
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 10:09 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LF] [tinwhiskers] FW: [SMART] Very useful RoHS review
conference report

Here's a partial list of problems ignored by the EU and major manufacturers
as they have switched to lead-free manufacturing to comply with the EU lead
ban.  

PREFACE:

The waivers for defense and high rel products are essentially useless
(unless one sends parts to a replater to dip them in molten lead) as the
major component vendors have rushed to embrace lead-free manufacturing.
They have, in many cases, mixed their lead and lead-free parts by using the
same part numbers for both.  They have refused to make available to RoHS
exempt industries lead bearing platings on components.  

1)  Microsoft's XBOX as has been widely discussed on this and other forums

2)  increased number of failures in recently purchased PC products

3)  subject matter experts of published environmental tests show increased
amounts of failures in lead-free manufacturing (mechanical connection
failures) including parts popping off boards, voids in BGA balls, etc...
Manufacturers continue to state lead-free manufacturing is "ok", "no
problems found"

4)  Conformal coatings mitigate the growth of tin whiskers (and not using
lead in solder guarantees that whiskers will grow) yet commercial product
manufacturers (including a major telecom product provider who shall remain
nameless) told me and several others on a teleconference that I attended on
behalf of the Dept of Homeland Security, that "the selling price of the
products cannot bear the cost adder of conformal coating".

5)  Swatch watch company gets a waiver to use lead as millions of their
watches fail due to tin whisker shorts on crystal oscillator

6)  FDA forced Medtronic to recall their implanted cardiac defibrilators
(from patients bodies) when whiskers shorted the devices.
    http://www.fda.gov/ora/inspect_ref/itg/itg42.html

7)  a major Ethernet switch maker has senior field service personnel who
have not been told of the potential for tin whisker growth so when failures
happen, boards are simply replaced.  Reason given is that "customers pay for
service contracts so who cares what the reason is that they fail so long as
we repair them quickly".

8)  a major contract assembler states at a recent IEEE Reliability Society
meeting that they see no problems with lead-free manufacturing yet an aside
from one of their customers was said to me that "of course they don't see
the problems, we see them AFTER we ship the product."

9)  all the whisker failures reported here
http://nepp.nasa.gov/WHISKER/failures/index.htm plus I am advised by NASA
that they have confidentiality agreements with many others who call in to
report problems which prevents them from listing the failures

10) I was recently at a national meeting on lead-free manufacturing where it
was admitted that on many warplane systems there are lead-free manufacturing
problems but the manufacturers refuse to go public with the information.

11) Anonymous (Terrestrial Application) - Field Failures First Observed
Circa 2003 
   http://nepp.nasa.gov/WHISKER/anecdote/2003ckt_breaker/index.html

12)  over 15,000 papers have been published on the subject of tin whiskers
http://www.dbicorporation.com/rohsbib.htm yet to this day, no-one can state
why they grow or how without lead to stop them, how quickly they grow, how
long they will grow.

13) white paper by the AIA outlining the problems
http://www.aia-aerospace.org/assets/wp_leadfree_0208.pdf

14)  As was recently posted here by Denny Fritz:

A large amount of information has been accumulated in the Aerospace/Defense
community about lead based versus lead-free solders/solder joints.  A good
place to start to tap this knowledge has recently been gathered at the
Defense Acquisition University web site:

https://acc.dau.mil/leadfree

I will point out the second item on the list - the Lead-free Electronics
"Manhattan Project" to compile the "best practices" for use of lead based or
lead-free solder in harsh environements.  15 leading metallurgical
scientists in the US met for two weeks to compile this 350 page baseline.
Since then, the same 15 met again in August to outline the required research
to close the knowledge gaps between leaded and lead-free solder,
particularly in harsh environments.  

15) The AIA and others are proposing to the US Dept of Defense a $95M
project which will take three years and which will hopefully come up with
solutions to the present problems with lead-free manufacturing.

The bottom line is, that util the problems outlined above are solved, if the
EU does not want people to die from an increased amount of failures in
transportation, electric power, medical devices, not to mention the waste
and expense of filling landfills to overflowing with an increasing number of
failed electronic products, the EU should immediately retract the RoHS ban
on lead in manufacturing electronic assemblies and components and instead
specify that at least 5% lead should be in all tin coatings and solders.

Bob Landman
H&L Instruments, LLC





-----Original Message-----
From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James, Chris
Sent: Monday, January 25, 2010 11:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LF] [tinwhiskers] FW: [SMART] Very useful RoHS review
conference report

What evidence do you have to be able to assert this defamatory
statement: 

"Knowing the EU and how the major manufacturers suck up as they do not seem
to be concerned about products surviving past their warranty period, I
highly doubt this report is factual."



-----Original Message-----
From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Whittaker, Dewey
(EHCOE)
Sent: 25 January 2010 16:10
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LF] [tinwhiskers] FW: [SMART] Very useful RoHS review
conference report

I am not aware that any of the so-called halogen-free laminate materials
will meet the Class 3 or 3/A requirements of IPC-6012 when pre-conditioned
per IPC-TM-650, Method 2.6.7 (Thermal Stress Testing per
3.6.1.3 of the Rev C going to ballot), let alone some of the other
idiosyncrasies that are currently being addressed.
Dewey

-----Original Message-----
From: Leadfree [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Bob Landman
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 3:55 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [LF] [tinwhiskers] FW: [SMART] Very useful RoHS review
conference report

According to this EU article, manufacturers have successfully transitioned
from halogenated and pthalate containing pc boards without any difficulty.

Is this true?

Are the new boards flame retardant?

Do they survive multiple passes at lead-free soldering temperatures?

What about delamination?

What about pad cratering?

Other issues?

Knowing the EU and how the major manufacturers suck up as they do not seem
to be concerned about products surviving past their warranty period, I
highly doubt this report is factual.

I would appreciate comments from those who have more than one year of
experience with these new board materials.

Do they pass the UL flame and smoke tests?

What other tests are they certified to pass?

Have the tests been altered so these new board materials can pass?

What are the life cycle testing -55C to +125C - results?

-40C to +85C life cycle testing results?

Shock?

Vibration?

How many layers?  (at least 24?)

Will the Airbus avionics be using these new board materials and if so when?

Bob Landman
H&L Instruments, LLC

Sent from my iPhone

On Jan 22, 2010, at 12:28 PM, "John Burke" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>
> FYI see link for report in email below
>
> John Burke
> (408) 515 4992
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: SMART Group smart-e-link [mailto:SMART-E- 
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Nigel Burtt
> Sent: Friday, January 22, 2010 1:43 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [SMART] Very useful RoHS review conference report
>
> "Greening Consumer Electronics - from Hazardous Material to 
> Sustainable Solutions Conference" in the European Parliament held on
> 18 November
> 2009
>
> Leading companies within the electronics sector sent strong message to 
> EU regulators at ChemSec Conference: Moving away from Brominated Flame 
> Retardants and PVC is possible, feasible and is already happening! The 
> question is not whether electrical and electronic equipment industry 
> can phase out these chemicals, but when, says Jill Evans, Member of 
> the European Parliament. (Rapporteur leading the drafting of recast 
> amendments to
> RoHS)
>
>
> Full report including presentations and video
>
> http://www.chemsec.org/rohs/conference
>
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> Nigel
>

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