Bev, In the spirit of generalities my answer would be "if you can detect it, it is too big!" The end of the crack is a major stress concentration point and will propagate rapidly. Of course if you wait a few more cycles the crack will get really big and then it is definitely "big enough". A better question would be how do you distinguish between a crack and a void? David A. Douthit Manager LoCan LLC Bev Christian wrote: > Hopefully this will start off a nice discussion. I have kept it general for > that purpose. > > Shades of voids in BGAs... How big of a crack in thermally cycled solder > joints is too big of a crack? > > Bev Christian > Research in Motion > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 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 > To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL > To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest > Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/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 To temporarily halt delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL To receive ONE mailing per day of all the posts: send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet Digest Search the archives of previous posts at: http://listserv.ipc.org/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 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------