Lead-Free (Pb-Free) Solder and Composition

Lead-Free Solder: Solder with NO Lead (Pb). Lead-Free is taking rapid momentum around the world after the EU (European Union) Directives to wipe off lead (Poison) from electronic soldering considering its health and environmental effects

RoHS: Restriction of Hazardous Substances [ lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (CrVI), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).]

WEEE: Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipments.

Why Lead Free in Electronics

Many of the electronic companies and manufacturers around the globe were using Tin-Lead (Sn/Pb) solder for PCB assembly and rework. They also used No-Clean Liquid Flux and No-Clean Solder Paste. They did not bother to clean the PCB and the flux residue after assembly. These boards were later dumped into earth.

While lead is dangerous and harmful during the assembly process, dumping the board in soil was harmful to the environment. This ultimately lead to make lead-free PCB assembly mandatory.

Lead-Free Solder

Various Chemistry for alloy composition in lead-free solder was explored. Several things had to be kept in mind:

• Composition of lead-free cored solder wire for hand-soldering
• Composition of solder bar for wave soldering
• Composition of solder paste for reflow and hot air soldering
• Composition of BGA Balls
• Chemistry of flux to be used in lead-free soldering
• Temperature resistance and tolerance of led-free compatible electronic components

The original link: http://www.nod-pcba.com/news/267-en.html