Would appreciate any information pertaining to Lead Free Soldering. Will there be a U.S. requirement for this, when will it be implemented, what standard will publish requirements? :truce: I also would like to know - If we have customers in Europe are we required to manufacture our electronics with lead-free solder? Thanks in advance for any information :thanx:

Would appreciate any information pertaining to Lead Free Soldering. Will there be a U.S. requirement for this, when will it be implemented, what standard will publish requirements? :truce: I also would like to know - If we have customers in Europe are we required to manufacture our electronics with lead-free solder? Thanks in advance for any information :thanx:
The way the EU works it doesn't matter whether it is made there or imported. I believe the regulation goes into effect July 2006 and Japan's requirements are sooner. As far as I know the US does not have a lead free requirement but the US will probably not be far behind with both EU and Japan requiring it.

NASA has had a requirement for silver solder for many years.....if this will help you out, it is a good start.

Hershal

Would appreciate any information pertaining to Lead Free Soldering. Will there be a U.S. requirement for this, when will it be implemented, what standard will publish requirements? I also would like to know - If we have customers in Europe are we required to manufacture our electronics with lead-free solder? Thanks in advance for any information
Ace,

I only just discovered this thread, as I have been busy on other things for a while. As it happens, I had to do some research on soldering processes last year so I have some things that may be useful.

The US does not have any law or regulation requiring use of lead-free solder in electronic products. The only law that does place restrictions on use of lead in industry specifically exempts the electronics industry. (Note that over 80% of lead use is in batteries; less than 0.5% is used in electronics manufacturing.) The Enviromental Protection Agency does have reporting rule that applies to any business that produces waste containg more than 100 pounds of lead per year.

The European Union has a directive that all consumer electronics products sold to European consumers must be lead-free starting July 1, 2006. Staring in 2005 the manufacturer must accept full life-cycle responsibility including the cost of safe disposal. These rules do not care where the product was manufactured, only where it is sold.

There is a voluntary industry effort in Japan to reduce the used of lead in electronics over the next few years.

Note that except for Europe, all of the efforts are voluntary. However they are in many cases driven by the voice of the customer - even though there is good scientific evidence that electronic products are not the main problem, to many people they are the most visible part of the problem. ("They" will complain about the few grams of lead in the solder in their PDA, but not even think about the several kilograms in their automobile battery!)

( :2cents: IF the US electronics industry is ever required to use only lead-free solder, my guess is that it would be implemented by an EPA regulation, and a national standard probably developed by IPC and NEMI. But the voice of the customer will make it a de facto standard well before the DC bureaucrats take effective action.)

Because lead-containing and lead-free solders are not compatible - and because different process parameters are required - a manufacturer that decides to use lead-free solder will typically change over all production lines in a given plant.

Here are some sources for additional information, in no particular order:

IPC IPC.org (http://www.ipc.org) (an industry association of printed wiring board and connector manufacturers, develops standards and recommended practices for soldering)

NEMI Database for Solder Properties with Emphasis on New Lead-Free Solders (http://www.nemi.org"NEMI.org[/url] (an industry association of electronics products manufacturers, working with NIST to develop standards for lead-free solder.)

NIST [url="http://www.boulder.nist.gov/div853/lead%20free/solders.html)

EETimes, January 24, 2000: "NEMI backs lead-free solder alloy for standard (http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000124S0029)"

Boeing Environmental Technotes, November 2002 (http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/doingbiz/environmental/TechNotes/TechNotes2002-11.pdf) (vol.7, no. 4)

National Electronics Manufacturing Center of Excellence, empfasis March/April 2003 (http://www.empf.org/html/empfasis/MarApr%202003.pdf): "Lead Free Soldering for Sustainment" (page 7-8)

Note that many manufacturers of solder and other lead-containing alloys also have web sites to market their own emphasis on becoming lead-free.

One caveat: ROHS does say that for the storage and server markets, the deadline is 1/1/2010, so everything isn't July 2006....

Qualifying the lead free solders should follow IPC/JEDEC JESD47B guidelines
Other than that, I don't know of any standards out yet.

And if the EU requires it, the rest of the world will follow, so don't be concerned about which countries have laws and which don't. This will become a part of our lives no matter where we live. Kinda like ISO... :biglaugh:

Here's another useful web site.
http://Leadfree.org (http://www.leadfree.org)

Also, I've attached a white paper that I downloaded from it.

Rosie, I don't know about that standard youb referenced, but in the white paper they used another JEDEC standard, 22-A104B, for thermal cycling. I've attached that as well. Sorry, but I don't have the IPC standard, IPC-9701, they referenced.

One caveat: ROHS does say that for the storage and server markets, the deadline is 1/1/2010, so everything isn't July 2006....

Thanks for the clarification ... but then again servers are not generally considered to be in the "consumer" market.

Does the 2010 date apply to all non-consumer electronics?



And if the EU requires it, the rest of the world will follow, so don't be concerned about which countries have laws and which don't. This will become a part of our lives no matter where we live. Kinda like ISO... :biglaugh:
You got it! :agree1: Of course, one of the goals of ISO is to remove barriers to trade by standardizing everything all over the world ... which has good and bad points but that would quickly degenerate into an inapproptiate political discussion.

GCP

... I don't have the IPC standard, IPC-9701, they referenced.
That standard has to be purchased from IPC ... and it seems you need deep pockets for their standards, espeically if your company is not a member! I just looked that one up in their online store ... :eek:

A list of all IPC specifications and standards is available here (http://www.ipc.org/4.0_Knowledge/4.1_Standards/SpecTree.pdf).

GCP

Graeme, ROHS, Article 4, paragraph 2 refers you to the document annex for "applications" not subject to the July 1, 2006 deadline. Those "applications" include:

"lead in solders for servers, storage, and storage array systems, network infastructure equipment for switching, signalling, transmission, as well as network management for telecommunications... and light bulbs"

This annex also lists the exceptions for mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and lead in non-solder applications.

For a copy:
DIRECTIVE 2002/95/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 January 2003 on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment (http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_037/l_03720030213en00190023.pdf)

(A Google seach will bring thi sup also)

There is a WEBCAST on Lead Free Electronics manufacturing being given on June 29, 2004. Here is the web site with more information.

http://cs.pennnet.com/webcast/display_webcast.cfm?id=47

Here is another link I came across:

http://www.designchainassociates.com/

click pb-free information on the sidebar.

Govind.