In the May 24 issue of Electronic News, an article titled "IPC Drawing Lead-Free Roadmap": " 'As Europe decides whether to adopt a resolution to eliminate lead in electronics assemblies by 2004, IPC - Association Connecting Electronics Industries is taking a lead role in encouraging the development of lead-free electronics assemblies by creating a roadmap to create useful alternatives,' the trade association said." And this: "Resistance to the creation of a lead-free electronics assembly roadmap is minimal according to (Dave) Bergman." > ---------- > From: Stephen R. Gregory[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Reply To: TechNet E-Mail Forum.;[log in to unmask] > Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 1999 12:58 PM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [TN] Lead free road map for U.S.? > > In a message dated 5/25/99 8:22:18 AM Pacific Daylight Time, > [log in to unmask] writes: > > << Sorry but if our Electronic Times is telling the truth the IPC is > intending to encourage lead free products in the U.S. along with Europe. > It appears the requests for the IPC to oppose the European legislation > have brought the whole thing about. > Looks like we might all be ending up with the lead problem. I wonder > what the new definition for solder will be in a few years time. > -- > Roger M Unwin > P+M Services (R) Ltd. Tel: 01706 815212 Fax: 01706 818636 > Http://www.p-m-services.demon.co.uk >> > > Hi Roger! > > You've started-up once again one of my favorite (?) topics. But I don't > think > what you've read is quite correct...that is unless things have change > drastically in the last few weeks. While not attempting to speak directly > for > the IPC, I do have the May 1999 copy of the magazine "IPC Review" and it > contains a very good article about the push for Lead-free, and the forum > that > was held at the IPC Printed Circuits Expo '99; "Getting the Lead Out of > Electronics: Is it Feasible, or Even Warranted?" The subtitle of the > article > is; "Tension over lead is building again. But is the cure more painful > than > the disease?" Doesn't sound something one would publish if they're ready > to > roll over and push for lead free does it? > > A few salient points from the article: > > "Even before the forum began, a straw poll of about 100 PWB executives > meeting in another corner of the Expo indicated that 70 to 80 percent of > the > boards they build are produced with hot air solder leveling. Lead based > solders have been the one constant in assembly for decades. And how many > components have no-lead leads?" > > "The forum itself was a potpourri of data. A four year, $10 million study > funded by several major US OEMs and the National Institute of Standards > and > Technology and conducted under the auspices of the National Center for > Manufacturing Sciences found that, among 79 alloys researched, only three > were suitable as lead alternatives, and none were drop-in replacements." > > "In research begun as part of a U.K consortium in 1992, 200 solder alloys > were evaluated, with seven ultimately selected for trials, and two - > tin/copper and tin/silver - settled on for detailed analysis on > performance, > cost and availability. These alloys were tested with various component and > > PWB finishes. Consortium members Nortel Networks and Cemco explained that > temperatures of tin/copper HASL are uniformly higher than tin/lead; for > example, air knife and bath temperatures of the former are 280° C. And > pull > strength tests showed tin/copper to be slightly weaker than tin/lead, > although it did do better in multiple pass reflow and high humidity aging > tests run with gold over nickel finishes." > > And the final point of the article that I like: > > "With the scientific merits at best ambiguous, the price of a lead-free > electronics world is high." > > > -Steve Gregory- > > ################################################################ > TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c > ################################################################ > To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with > following text in the body: > To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> > To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet > ################################################################ > Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" > section for additional information. > For technical support contact Hugo Scaramuzza at [log in to unmask] or > 847-509-9700 ext.312 > ################################################################ > ################################################################ TechNet E-Mail Forum provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ################################################################ To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TechNet <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TechNet ################################################################ Please visit IPC's web site (http://www.ipc.org) "On-Line Services" section for additional information. 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