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Lead Free Solder

Lead Free Solder

Lead Free Solder

(OP)
Hello All

As most of you know there is a big movement towards lead free solder. Europian Union has a law that from 1 July 2006 you will not be able to use lead solder ( military, medical, aircraft will be exempt).

My question is that there is only 7 moths till that takes effect and I am unable to find a good lead free solder to use. Is there anyone that knows where and what brand of lead free solder there are on the markets.

I was looking at a sample (can't remeber the brand) lead free solder but the problem with it is that it crackes easily. Basicaly anything I saw out there isn't good enough to use. Since I am from Australia I was unable to find it here.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Couple of others:

Indium Corp (mainly exotic solders for hybrids)
Multicore Solders

Multicore used to have an excellent technical department. Long time since I was in manufacturing.

You will need to change your inspection criteria when you move to a (probably) tin-based solder. High tin solders are harder and have a duller surface finish than the traditional 60/40 or 60/37.5/2.5 alloys, so you can't use exactly the same assessment criteria.

----------------------------------

One day my ship will come in.
But with my luck, I'll be at the airport!

RE: Lead Free Solder

It is, of course, a cunning plan to make all electronics so unreliable we all go back to using the abacus.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Multicore! Slurped up by LocBite er.. tite.

zeitghost; Yes another pile of eco-marketing BS.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Adding ~1% Silver help reduce the brittleness of Pb-Free solder.

RE: Lead Free Solder

We just had a corporate mandate to not use Pb-free.  We make microwave modules on hard substrates and seem to be able to go Pb-free there.  But that does not address the drive behind this, which is to be able to recycle cheaply in developed countries.  I have a friend who runs a business in Asia, he and his partner bought a used fax machine (these are two college kids with no money), they contact major companies in Europe and lease shipping space to Asia.  They double ship through China and magically the environmentalists do not have a say so (I do not like pollution, especially human toxic thins like Pb, so I am very pro environmentalists most of the time, but they do not get a blank check support).  

Anyway, their business will dissolve, but Europe may be able to more cheaply grind up their own computers and boards and cut out the middle man.

So, it is not good for everyone, but I think it is better fro society as a whole.  This is a problem where engineers and chemists, and basic materials people can really help and make a diference.

Anyone out there on the fixing the problem side of the isseue?

RE: Lead Free Solder

For lead-free solder to work nicely, the fluxing and temperature profiles have to be very tightly controlled.  That makes evaluations very hard to conduct and very expensive.  Solder vendors, but also most of your components have to be reassessed for lead-free.  Several plastics do not survive to the higher reflow temperatures.  The soldering equipment may have to be updated too.  Do you have your own production line or are you subcontracting?

Rejects will go up, margins will go down, good products will be forced to obsolescence, others that used to work well will start to fail because the new solder does not stand the stresses.  Small places like mine may just go out of business, but high-volume cell phone and consumer products companies are rubbing their hands, as the sales of the low-cost throw-away consumer stuff will go up because of the bad reliability.  What a strange world ahead of us!

RE: Lead Free Solder

Lead Free solders appear physically different to leaded solders.

IPC-A-610 D gives inspection critera for evaluating lead free solder

Off the top of my head you should expect to see

Duller Finish
Graininess
Fillet Lift
Fillet Cracking
Different Wetting Angles
Stress marks caused by differing contraction rates

Inspectors and operators will need to be made familiar with these differences, AOI (AVI) machines may need to be reprogrammed or recalibrated in some way

Lead free solders DO work, some large Japanense organisations have been mass manufacturing with them for years, however, they have gone through the pain already.. we've got to it now.

I am currently conducting solder trails using a range of lead-free solders, on various lead free finishes to determine which is the best for our own uses, I'd suggest taht you go down the DOE line for determining what factors are critical to you, what you need to get out of your solder, and how you will evaluate this in a scientific manner.

Get yourself a copy of the IPC standard, and you will soon have everyone working to the same standard (an increasingly internationally recognised one at that), and understanding that the cracks may actually be characteristics of the new materials.

Steve Bull
Quality and Circuit Engineer.

RE: Lead Free Solder

There is one major issue with lead free solder:  electromigration is worst.  This is when small pricky dendrites grow and short to adjacent ones of opposite polarity.  Apparently, the lead is a good retarder to electromigration.  Conformal coating helps too and wider trace spacings.  Definitely some things to consider.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Coverting a desing to leadfree is a hard job, but the main issue is not to get a suitable solder (SnAgCu used in Europe), but to get all the components suitable for the higher temperature during soldering.

RE: Lead Free Solder

If I were an activist, I would certainly jump on this.
I personally will consider moving to lead-free solder
about the same time that lead-acid batteries are banned.
Consider the amounts of lead used in each industry.
What's next?  Cadmium control?  Beryllium limits?
<als>

RE: Lead Free Solder

fsmyth; I couldn't agree more. I think this is beyond stoopid.  This then means it's fine to heave a billion pc boards into the landfill???  That's nuts! They should just establish one more waste stream.  One for deceased electronics.  I can't wait to hear the stories about what critical device failed when... soapbox

It can create a new reality show: As the whiskers grow.lol

RE: Lead Free Solder

Oh, they've thought of that in Euroland...

There's the wonderfully named WEE directive...

Too many penpushers with not enough to do.

But hey! all this unreliable electronics is going to keep our friends in China busy building more crap for consumers to buy...

RE: Lead Free Solder

I'm sure this was a very good reason for all the consumer products manufacturers to endorse RoHS so easily.  Unfortunately none of this spoiled money will stay home, while most of the small local shops will eat their shirts redesigning low-volume products to stay alive. Shame.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Oops, I was not talking technical, I'll be damned again.  Let's rewrite my last post.  My bread-and-butter product has gone obsolete because of RoHS.  But since the reliability might be questionable, the replacement product that I have to redesign may never exist, because the customers have to restart a whole product approval cycle.  While they're at it, they may of course consider the possibility of using the cheapest off-the-shelf design available.  Anyway, since it's not reliable, let's make it such that you can put in any throwaway item for the lowest possible maintenance costs.  Where will the cheap off-the-shelf product come?

RE: Lead Free Solder

Good points felixc, I never thought about.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Yup.

You can always rely on the know nothing eurocrats to screw you up.

Never mind.

It'll all be built in China anyway...

RE: Lead Free Solder

It's such a bad idea it's really is amazing..

RE: Lead Free Solder

Yes.

It goes something like:

"We're worried about all this electronic stuff going into landfill."

"I know, we'll take the lead out of solder, that'll make things better".

Except that it makes things worse because suddenly everything is unreliable.

So even more stuff ends up in landfill...

Aside from the fact that lead in solder only makes up about 1% anyway.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Dear Vladpl,
Getting back on track to your initial question.
We tried Multicole Solder (for hand soldering)

96SC Crystal 511
96SC Ersin 309

We preferred the 96SC Ersin 309.

In the UK I contacted the multicore tech help:   Ian.Williams@uk.henkel.com
He will help you find a source in the Great Oz....

These things are dirty dear though, but we have no choice.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Some statistics on worldwide lead usage:
Storage Batteries                      80.81%
Paint, Ceramics, Pigments, Chemicals    4.78%
Ammunition                              4.69%
Sheet Lead                              1.79%
Cable Covering                          1.40%
Casting Metals                          1.13%
Brass, Bronze - Billets and Ingots      0.72%
Pipes, Traps, Extruded Products         0.72%
Solder (for non electronics use)        0.72%
Solder (electronics use)                0.70%
Miscellaneous                           2.77%

Discard of Lead in Municipal Solid Waste (from EPA):
Lead Acid Batteries                    48.1%
Leaded glass in CRT and picture tubes  35.8%
Glass and Ceramics                      5.5%
Consumer Electronics (i.e. solder)      4.4%
Plastics                                2.5%
Cans, packaging Containers              1.4%
Building waste and other                2.3%

Statistics source - www.cmap.ca

RE: Lead Free Solder

Pity!

RE: Lead Free Solder

OH NO!!!! First they take away my paint chips and NOW they want my solder!  I guess I'll have to switch to a NiCd diet. Bummer....Maybe I'll switch to breathing the combustion byproducts of PTFE.

Well, at least they are leaving aerospace and medical alone.

Does this mean I will be arrested entering the EU to work on a machine and having leaded solder in my tool kit? I'm glad I'm going to France next week and not this summer! Jeez!  


Hope the humor is found enjoyable!

Scott

In a hundred years, it isn't going to matter anyway.

RE: Lead Free Solder

With just over 6 months to go, the electronics manufacturing industry in the UK (what little there is of it) is in complete turmoil. I expect the rest of Europe is in the same position. Talk to the PCB makers and they tell you this is going to be a major headache. Remember, they have to plate all the boards that we solder the components to. I have spoken at length to my board supplier and they tell me that they can think of no positive aspect of this lead free nonsence. Not only is this stuff difficult to use and inspect, it's also corrosive. Their existing stainless steel baths are no good any more. The shelf life of the boards will be as low as a few days unless kept in a protective atmosphere and one of the replacements for the lead, antimony, is far more poisonous than the lead itself. We saw the same thing when they removed the lead (TEL) from petrol, the refinaries just found something far more noxious to replace it with!

Lead free is going to give the industry a bad name. The reliability of the already flakey consumer products is going to get far worse. Consumers are going to get pretty pissed when their DVD recorder gives up after 13 months! The QA process in some of the Chinese factories is virtually non existant anyway, make the QA more difficult and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that we're heading for disaster. The people that dreamed up this crazy idea *know* that lead free is crap and unreliable, that's why they have made exemptions for aerospace, military and computer server products. The exemptions are a tacit admission that lead free is unreliable. After all, why did we add lead to tin in the first place?

Another point not mentioned here - spare a thought for repair houses. Lead free solder is not compatible with leaded solder. Reworking existing leaded boards isn't going to be an option. It's effectively going to kill the repair business - yet more stuff in landfill. Aren't these European policy makers clever people - not!

Personally, I'm stockpiling leaded solder while it's still freely available. In a couple of years I reckon it will be worth a fortune on Ebay!!

RE: Lead Free Solder

Given that ammunition places almost 7 times more lead in the environment than solder, maybe we should ban ammunition.

And drip molten solder on the violators!

Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework  Read FAQ731-376

RE: Lead Free Solder

Daveylynx,
As I recall, and correct me if I am wrong, lead free gasoline was a required evil because of the implimentation of the catalytic converter on vehicles. I was lead (no pun intended) to believe that it would plug the converter.

BTW, I loved the Ebay remark! It's going to be like trying to buy R-12! You'll need to be licensed and pay big $$$ as well.

Scott

In a hundred years, it isn't going to matter anyway.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Buy 60-40 tin lead now while stocks last!

Lead poisons the catalytic converter. One tank of leaded gas will write the converter off...

At the moment, if the item for repair uses leaded solder, then you are permitted to use leaded solder to repair it.

I would think that using lead free solder to repair tin/lead joints is less than optimal... and the joint looks dreadful, dull & nasty.

RE: Lead Free Solder

I had an interesting conversation at lunch today with an ex-coworker who worked for Sharp LCD division in the early 90's. I have no reason to doubt him, but this could just be his personal rant/conspiracy theory on this subject. I mentioned the data from Comcokid's post on how high the CRT lead % numbers were in the landfill sources and since he used to work in that industry, I wanted to know more about that. He confirmed that likelyhood, but went on with this story.

He says that when Sharp and other LCD mfrs were trying to get the market off the ground for LCD TVs and monitors, they couldn't compete with CRTs on price. So they formed an industry group and funded research on ways to attack the CRT industry that would help create demand for LCD alternatives. They are the ones responsible for the radiation stories, as well as lead stories, hoping to capture the green-conscious consumers as a niche that would pay more for LCDs. They supposedly funded a research project on all the hazmats that go into the manufacture and disposal of CRTs, lead being a chief target.

Then some Green Party activists in the EU got hold of this study and tried to use it for their agenda of forcing a return/recycle fee to be placed on all CRT products to prevent them from getting into landfills and fund cleanup of manufacturing sites. The CRT industry would have been devastated, so they countered by saying that if you ban one source, you need to ban them all, thinking that this would never happen and they could continue as before. They even funded their own studies on other sources of lead, over-emphasizing solder on PCBs, because of course that would hurt the LCD industry.

The unintended consequence of course, was that the Greens added that study to their arsenal, won the day and the unthinkable happened, with all lead based products, including solder, getting banned.

It sounds just Machiavellian enough to be true.

Eng-Tips: Help for your job, not for your homework  Read FAQ731-376

RE: Lead Free Solder

Does any one remember a proposition years ago in California to reduce lead in the environment by requiring a certain percentage of the cars in California to be electric by a certain date? I understand that it was passed, but never enforced after someone pointed out to the policy makers that the manufacture of the batteries needed would cause much more pollution than would ever be saved by the gasoline that was replaced by electric.
I wonder what the lead impact of the battery banks in the new hybrid cars is and how the lead volumes compare to the lead volumes in solder?

RE: Lead Free Solder

Landfills must all be lined now to prevent who-knows-what from leaking out the bottom into the water tables.  So really it shouldn't matter what gets tossed into the landfills short of things that are gaseous pollutants or masses of liquid.  Certainly not a few circuit boards that might on a bad day make up .001% of the waste stream.

RE: Lead Free Solder

If Europe saw in RoHS a way to stay competitive by being first to promulge it, they missed their target.  Just the big makers will take advantage of it, with the end users paying for it.  The big manufacturers are not in Europe.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Oh no, the EU has really upset folks this time.  
I couldn't help noticing that grades of lead-free solder weren't as easy to use when soldering by hand - it seemed reluctant to tin the bit.  I've sort of got there in the end, by turning up the iron temperature and using a tip cleaner (mixture of solder powder and chemicals) every time I pick up the iron.  Somehow the joint doesn't look as good though, more dull in appearance; no idea what the effect is on long-term reliability.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Hope that tip cleaner didn't have lead in it UKpete...

Lead free requires a hotter iron.

Apparently the stuff with good old activated flux (5 core) is the dog's whatsits according to an article in Television magazine.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Hehe, look a the pc boards that are in TV sets.  Could you imagine something similar in an industrial control system?

The good old RA and RMA rosin?  The one that needs CFCs to clean?  Aargh!

RE: Lead Free Solder

Don't think the flux mentioned is rosin based.

RE: Lead Free Solder

To be "Activated" it has to be "rosin" doesn't it?


There is no better solder for creating beautiful clean solid joints then ol Kester "44".  When I really have a problem joint  I reach for it.  But cleaning it without some CFC is a nightmare.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Yup!

RE: Lead Free Solder

I still have a tin can of Kester acid paste for the real tough ones... like those "Made in China" video cables that I need to customize.

RE: Lead Free Solder

(OP)
Hi All

It is interesting that we all have the same thought on this topic. I just can't understand why doesn't the industry stand up and tell EU that what they are trying to do is irrational. May be if we all started protesting they would have to listen. I know that someone will profit from this lead free solder movement. But us everyday people will be worse off. I agree with you all and I will go and stockpile some 60/40 and no one will take the lead away from me.

RE: Lead Free Solder

The jack booted anti-lead nazis can have my lead solder when they pry it from my cold dead hands...machinegun





lol

RE: Lead Free Solder

"You'll never take me alive, copper"

"On top of the world, ma"

(all in a Jimmy Cagney accent)... clown

RE: Lead Free Solder

I'll suggest to my sons to go in law or health instead of engineering.  When the insurance fees are larger than your beneficial margin, something's wrong.  The electronics industry will die in my country.  RoHS is just another nail in the coffin.  I wonder what will remain besides proximity services.

I just received a batch of lead-free PC boards.  Immersion gold process.  I don't know what happened, but the wicking of the solder to the gold is very ugly.  (the previous batch was absolutely magnificient) They will require lots of touch-ups.  Lead-free, yeah!

RE: Lead Free Solder

re: batteries in hybrid cars... My Prius has a small lead acid battery for the usual 12 volt system stuff.  The main battery (that makes it a hybrid) is NiMH with a life expectancy about the same as the car.  Never over or under charging it extends the life immensely.  After 8 years it should maintain 90% of the new charge level.

re: ammunition... I remember reading somewhere that the US Army is switching over to lead free ammo.  I think it uses tungsten as a mass to propel.

I agree, RoHS is a poor way to attack a very small percentage of a dubious problem.

RE: Lead Free Solder

How about this then, guys & gals:

Extracted from "Ask Dr ROHS" in Electronics Weekly

"Dear Dr ROHS,

We use SAVBIT solder to connect 0.05mm self fluxing enamelled wire to terminals in small transformers. if we use conventional solder, the surface of the copper dissolves into the solder so the wire is necked just where it enters the joint, making the wire extremely fragile and easily damaged.

The high copper content (1.5%) of SAVBIT prevents this happening. We have tried various ROHS compliant solders including one with 3% copper and none are as good as SAVBIT. Can you offer any suggestions?

Elsewhere in the same transformer, we use high melting point solder which contains more than 85% lead, apparently we can continue to sue this. Can one obtain a similar concession for SAVBIT?"

The Reply from Dr ROHS:

"There is no clear answer unless your assembly is only used in ROHS exempt products.

Finding a solder with even higher copper content is a possibility.

If the assembly can withstand 300C, the high melting point solder used elsewhere is also a possibility and would be legal.

Tinning the wire with HMP solder then soldering it to the assembly with lead free solder  would produce a non compliant mix.

Can you first plate the wire with a barrier material like nickel and then solder with lead free solder?

Applying for an exemption like the one for HMP solder is a lengthy process and is unlikely to be granted by the ROHS deadline, although if there is no technical alternative you could have a case."

So there we have it: give up & build it all in China clown

RE: Lead Free Solder

jimkirk, lead acid batteries are not a big source of lead waste because of the ease of recycling e.g. see:
http://www.buchmann.ca/Article16-Page1.asp
(98% recycled in the US).  On the other hand, lead in solder never gets recycled probably.  I'm not defending lead-free solder though.

Re the use of lead in ammunition, it has of course been banned here in the EU because of fears of high lead accumulation in people who are shot frequently.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Funny. If 98% of lead-acid batteries get recycled, then I keep seeing that remaining 2% a lot. Just this morning I passed a car battery lying in the road. I frequently see them on the curb on trash day (and there is no recycling pickup for them in my community). Many auto service and parts places will take an old battery only if you are buying a new one.

I wonder how many cell phones it takes to equal the weight of one car battery?

RE: Lead Free Solder

Watch out for the wiskers.

I think lead free solder is somehow temporarily exempt in aviation applications because hair like crystals grow out of the solder joints and cause shorts.

RE: Lead Free Solder

Only statistical methods will tell if the production methods have led to solder joints that are not likely to grow these tin whiskers.  Again, only the big volume guys (read not in our country) will win at this game.  The whiskers can cause the shorts weeks and months after a product has been assembled and that all tests passed.

RE: Lead Free Solder

So for a small US based manufacturer that does less than 10% of it's business in the EU, is it worth the hassle? You have to compare the profits from that portion of your sales to the additional cost of transitining to Pb free, plus ongoing issues due to things like wiskers, etc that could affect 100% of your products.
I am willing to bet that there will be many small manufcturers that either, stop shipping to the EU, or just lie and claim Pb free. Who's even going to be checking?

-Bill
CE Designer Forum
www.cedesigner.com

RE: Lead Free Solder

But isn't California going to be RoHS next year?
 

RE: Lead Free Solder

felixc; What would make say such a horrible thing?!!!
Did you really hear this or are you just jerking our chains?

RE: Lead Free Solder

Yeah SteveBull;  I'm aware of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act.  I receive my monthly threats from the State.bugeyed

As far as I can tell this is what Europe should have done!  Establish an e-waste stream and deal with it.  Instead of trying to ban a useful element "and see what happens".

I do hope they don't look at RoHs and think I guess that's what we should do too.

RE: Lead Free Solder

If you read between the lines, it appears that the foundations are being laid for getting manufacturers to comply with RoHS (presumably to reduce problems with exporting non-compliant products).

Tucked away on P43 of the latest proposed version of the Electronic Waste Recycling Act (14 Feb, 06) is this little gem:

" (c) The materials reporting shall include:
1) An estimated average amount in milligrams for mercury, cadmium, lead, hexavalent chromium, including theri alloys and compounds, and PBBs used in covered electronic devices, and all their component parts by product category.
2) estimates may be based on either physical testing or maximum tolerance levels of the material in product design specifications.
3) An explanation of the methodology used to estimate data"

Funny they should require specifics on exactly the same materials that we Europeans are getting our panties twisted up over.....

Steve
Quality and Circuit Engineering

RE: Lead Free Solder

Yeah that is troubling... Thanks for the heads up...
(^%(^%)%$#@*#&*!

RE: Lead Free Solder

This thread may give you an insight into the amount of work required to 'prove' RoHS compliance.... Remember that this will be required if you want to ship electronic/Electrical equipment into the EU after 01 June......

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=136031

Steve
Quality and Circuit Engineering

RE: Lead Free Solder

Duh!

RE: Lead Free Solder

Nice piece Steve. Thanks.

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