I'm thinking most of the above -- looks like creep from the plated holes along the copper excited by the salt-air and the high current density. Looks like FR-4 glass/epoxy to me. I saw one instance where this had jumped from the plane area to an adjacent conductor -- may be a fly in the ointment...Ian -----Original Message----- From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Robert Lazzara Sent: Monday, December 04, 2006 12:13 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: [TN] water water everywhere! Brian, Looks funny to me, too, but not due to it being a few holes. First observation: There's apparent solder mask lifting/blistering. I expect to see uniform solder mask even when the substrate exhibits delamination, but these views show an effect appearing more like solder mask blistering than ply separation. Second observation: I see solder mask separating from a trace. Initial thoughts: This is a failure of the solder mask. The mask wasn't uniformly cured (or there was inadequate surface preparation prior to masking -- or both). Q1: Is there an available edge-view of the PCB? The closer/the better. Q2: Has anyone performed IPC solder mask testing for peel strength or solvent resistivity? Q3: Has anyone cracked open a box that hasn't gone into the field to se if the condition is pre-existing? ROBERT LAZZARA VP, Business Development T: (800) 560-9457 F: (800) 878-5566 ____________________________________ In a message dated 12/4/2006 11:30:34 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] writes: The following files show the two sides of a PCB in a professional weather station. This shows four dark areas which the manufacturer has ascribed to water penetration. These are centred on a hole. The whole thing seems funny to me, as it has happened on only a few of the holes. I understand that it was housed in a water-tight case, not very far from the Pacific coast. I was not able to ascertain the laminate type, but it would not surpise me if it were paper based (FR3?). Has anyone seen anything like this? ____________________________________ --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e 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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) 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/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 ----------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------- Technet Mail List provided as a service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8e 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 or (re-start) delivery of Technet send e-mail to [log in to unmask]: SET Technet NOMAIL or (MAIL) 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/contentpage.asp?Pageid=4.3.16 for additional information, or contact Keach Sasamori at [log in to unmask] or 847-615-7100 ext.2815 -----------------------------------------------------