The specific part of IEC 62321 that deals with XRF testing is:
EN 62321-3-1:2014
"Only" $277 from the ANSI website.
http://webstore.ansi.org/FindStandards.aspx?SearchString=BS+EN+62321-3-1%3a2
014&SearchOption=0&PageNum=0&SearchTermsArray=null%7cBS+EN+62321-3-1%3a2014%
7cnull

Another thing about the handhelds is that if you are doing, for instance,
0201s you need to strip them out of the reel to make a little pile to have
enough surface area for the beam to hit.  And say you are doing an NPI run
and you only bought 125 but really "only" need 75 but had to strip 100 out
of your reel for the XRF RoHS testing - you are screwed.  Hopefully you are
rely using one of the "Chiclet" boxes for these parts.

A good XRF is also good for mercury and bromine.

I'm at home, so don't have our manual we put together, but the gold peak can
"interfere" with one of the infamous RoHS six if your machine does not have
good x-ray frequency resolution.

And more.  Put a leather holster in a box with a cell phone and the legal
weenies will tell you that it also must meet RoHS.  Put a leather holster
though an XRF to check it and you have a 80-85% chance of finding about 2%
chromium, since about 4/5ths of the world's leather is cured using chromium
III basic sulfate.  And of course XRF only tells you an element is present,
NOT its oxidation state. It can't tell the difference between pure Cr, Cr in
stainless steel, Cr+2, Cr+3, Cr+4, Cr+5 or Cr+6.

Cr(VI) testing ON METAL can be done using the method in 
IEC 62321 Ed. 1.0 b:2008 "Electrotechnical products - Determination of
levels of six regulated substances (lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent
chromium, polybrominated biphenyls, polybrominated diphenyl ethers)", but
DON't use that for leather. It does not work.  Use ISO 17075 instead.

Regards,
Bev

-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Julie Silk
Sent: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 1:02 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] lead free (RoHS) testing in manufacturing

The XRF works for a reasonable verification that parts are compliant.  It's
not a pass/fail test, even though it gives that in the report.  You have to
take into account that it takes the signal over the entire field of the
aperture and to a depth that varies depending on the material.  So, you are
averaging the Pb in the coating on the lead with the entire lead.  You can
tell SnPb when the ratio of these 2 in the readout is about 2:1.  For
instance, with only 2% Pb in a PCA sample, we could conclude it was SnPb
used in the process because the Sn was about 4%.  If you're measuring 1000
ppm on the termination of a part, it's like well above that in the
homogeneous material of the plating layer.  We have used Olympus hand-helds
with the test stand with good results for component spot-checks and process
area cross-contamination (such as in rework areas).  Our interpretation of
RoHS 2 is that if you don't do any physical testing, you are not doing due
diligence.  We have found the test swabs to only work at quite high Pb %.  I
made some melted Pb-free solder buttons contaminated with SnPb and even at
5000 ppm, the swab didn't turn red.

Other elements that show up with an XRF and are a source of non-compliance:
Cd or Cr in colored wires or other plastics, Cr in chromate conversion
coatings (the Chromate Check swabs from 3M work well to detect Cr+6 vs
CrR+3).

You need to be trained on the use and interpretation of results.  We also
find that you must check for the peaks in the spectra to confirm the
element.


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