Timeline for Bismuth or Indium solder - how do they compare?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 23, 2017 at 11:22 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | @AliChen Sure there's a problem there! And you're probably right, car batteries are a bigger problem. However these batteries are rather well-controlled and a big part recycled; the obvious and much more direct danger of the corrosive acid makes this somewhat inevitable. Electronics are far more commonly dumped, smashed, perhaps even chewed on... that has little direct harm, making long-term issues easier to sneak along. — The main components of the common SAC solder are studied just as well as lead. Sure, other heavy metals are used too, but in far lower proportion if only due to cost. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 21:23 | comment | added | Ale..chenski | @leftaroundabout, I maintain that ROHS is idiocy. The logic behind is inherently faulty. The regulation replaces well-studied lead with a bunch of different kind of heavy metals, for which medicine has no foggiest clue about their health impact, simply because there were no sufficient studies, yet. Lead is harmful in a form of salts. Yet there are miles and miles of car salvages with broken lead-acid batteries leaking into soils and underground aquifers. No problem here, right? | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 21:07 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | @AliChen though I obviously agree that normal lead-free tin is really annoying to work with – please don't deride those regulations as idiotic. In prototyping and specialty applications, the amount of lead may not pose a health or environmental risk, but in mass-produced consumer applications it does sum up to a significant one. And high-tech industrial production has proven to be quite capable of making good, reliable electronics without any lead, so what's the point... | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 19:22 | comment | added | Ale..chenski | @K.Mulier, if you are concerned with vibration and other mechanical stresses, I believe that 63/37 or 60/40 lead-based alloys are still preferred (and mandated for use) for test equipment and military applications, and this kind of equipment is officially excepted from the idiocy of ROHS regulations. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 18:51 | comment | added | Attila Kinali | Sorry, I have no idea about the mechanical properties of those solders under stress. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 18:46 | comment | added | K.Mulier | Is it brittle? Will the joints crack under vibration, or will the ductility of Indium prevent that from happening? | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 18:44 | comment | added | Attila Kinali | I didn't. Although there were cases where I considered it, the benefits never justified the additional cost. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 18:39 | comment | added | K.Mulier | Very interesting. Did you ever use Bismuth or Indium based solders? | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 18:37 | comment | added | Attila Kinali | Even if your analog circuit is sensitive, it does not mean you will get any benefit from low EMF solder. The usual electric contacts we use have something like 1-10µV/°C. Your average opamp will have have an order of magnitude higher temperature coefficient or even just plain drift, not to mention the sensor you are using. Also keep in mind this is a DC offset. Unless you are measuring very low frequencies, it does not matter. To learn more, just google for EMF or Seebeck effect. | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 18:12 | comment | added | K.Mulier | Low EMF is a concern for me, as I sometimes make sensitive analog circuits. Please tell me more about how these solder alloys can improve the EMF... | |
| Sep 20, 2017 at 17:48 | history | answered | Attila Kinali | CC BY-SA 3.0 |