Arturo, To really know the root cause, you will have to cross-section your capacitors. The one nice thing about capacitor cracking is that different root-causes (internal flaws, excessive placement stress, thermal shock) produce different crack signatures. Best Regards Craig -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Arturo Urias Sent: Thursday, November 02, 2000 2:21 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [TN] Cracked capacitors question Dear subscribers: I have seen in a few of our products some cracked capacitors. The cracks are very small and it is usually very difficult to see them, even under a high maginification microscope. When we reflow one side of the capacitor with the solder iron, the capacitor completely separates. In a few cases I have seen the cracks even before we touch it up with the solder iron, so I know that somehow it is happening before touchup. This problem has been experienced on boards that do not go through the wave. There are other components like resistors and even other capacitors that do not show the same problem, even on the same product. The capacitors are 805s. Any ideas as to what is causing this? Thanks! Arturo Urias National Instruments ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- Technet Mail List provided as a free 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 Technet Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a free 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 Technet Search previous postings at: www.ipc.org > On-Line Resources & Databases > E-mail Archives Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5315 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------