[sdiy] Tin Whiskers

[s]

Actually, the whisker phenomenon was apparently a
larger prolem in the past (pre 1950s ?) that they
thought had been dealt with- adding a bit of lead to
the tin apparently kept the whiskers from forming.
It's starting to become a problem again with the push
to remove lead from electronics. There is legislation
in the EU to have all lead removed from electronics &
computers within 2 years, I believe, so that really
brings up the issue of the whiskers returning.

>From what I've read, nobody is really sure why
whiskers actually form- understanding of the problem
is minimal because after the lead discovery it was
pretty much forgotten. there was an article I read on
this recently, I think in forbes of all places- I'm
not sure, but when I remember I'll post it.

Oh- just as trivia, tin isn't the only metal that
whiskers. I know that zinc and silver do as well. And
apparently recent evidence has shown that gold will
whisker as well...

best
s


--- Mattias Rickardsson <mr at analogue.org> wrote:


> Ooh, scary. I've heard about tulips on an organ, but
> whiskers on an organ 
> was something new.
> 
> But really: all this whiskers stuff - how serious
> could it be? I mean, it's 
> not like it suddenly started to happen yesterday now
> or anything, and we 
> still use lots of old electronics that still works.
> So it will in the 
> future too.
> I guess the whiskers are just a potential cause of
> spontaneous damage, 
> which has always existed. Finding such a cause gives
> relief rather than 
> anxiety, I think. Now we have a better chance to
> prolong the life of 
> electronics (which was quite long already before).
> 
> Another thought: would the whisker phenomenon be a
> bigger risk for old 
> electronics (with higher voltages and currents) or
> new electronics (with 
> smaller distances)?
> 



		
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