Hello Technet,

I have been following the lead free thread with great interest as I have been
involved in this field for several years.  The vast majority of the opinions
expressed have attacked the issue on the basis of bad politics, bad
engineering and overly zealous environmental nuts. However, there are
actually valid reasons for developing lead free systems.

The military has spent millions of dollars on research in this area to
develop systems which can operate at higher temperatures in more hostile
environments.  This will generally lead you, but not always, to a lead free
eutectic solder alloy system.

The automotive industry has for years been developing systems that can
operate at higher temperatures for under hood applications.  I think that
everyone would agree that this is not a small market to be ignored.  Again, a
lead free option could be the answer.

Just one more thought that I have not seen mentioned.  What a wonderful trade
barrier it would be if the EC and Japan went lead free and the US did not.
For all of you that export to these countries, what do you think this would
mean to your bottom line?

Larry

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