Hi Howard,
 
Aren't styrofoam balls a Non ESD material?  We don't use it, though parts may come in baggged with peanuts around that.  It seems to me that styro-balls would be "staticy"--as you describe them sticking to your assemblies--as well as having out-gassing properties, though I can't say if a board in an ESD bag would be so affected, and what dependence exposure time might have, as if that is even relevant. (Sounds like all kinds of new threads developing here)  I know they have plenty of ESD safe treatmentsfor packaging products, but your problem seems quite annoying.  Another example of Purchasing vs. Engineering or application requirements?
 
This isn't helping you. I am cuious about the ESD bit though, and what else may weigh in.
 
Steve M.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">Howard Watson
To: [log in to unmask] href="mailto:[log in to unmask]">[log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 09:48
Subject: [TN] Styrofoam beads on PCB's


Dear Technetters,

I don't know if this is a problem that only we have, but it involves Styrofoam packing beads that show up on the PCB's that are delivered to our lines.  The little beads are all over the plastic packaging of the individual PCB bundles, and these can eventually hitchhike onto a PCB that goes into the printer.  You can guess what happens - a bead ends up on a pad or in an aperture and the result is insufficient or missing solder on one or many boards.  Our supplier is in China or India, and they claim that they must use Styrofoam for packaging.  In my opinion, this is the wrong type of packaging to use, but because of the low "initial" cost, I don't have too much clout on this issue.  Is anyone else familiar with this problem?  

Thanks in advance for all of your opinions - they are helpful and very valuable to my job!

Howard Watson
SMT Manufacturing Engineer
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