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White Paper Compares Lead-free Alloys
July 31, 2014 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
The proliferation of lead-free solder alloys gives users a wide range of features, but it can be difficult to figure out which of these alloys provides the best match for product requirements. The IPC Solder Products Value Council (SPVC) has written a white paper that will help users determine which alloy characteristics best match their requirements.
The white paper, "Analytical Procedures for Portable Lead-Free Alloy Test Data," contains data gathered from a consortium of experts, to help developers simplify the task of determining whether or not to change solder alloys.
"Someone using alloy A may have more solder corrosion than they want, so they start looking at solder alloy B," said Greg Munie, IPC director of design programs. "They know how alloy A stacks up to tin-lead solder based on their experience, but they have no history with alloy B. This document will give them some parameters to compare."
With lead-based solder, these comparisons were straightforward. Thermal cycles cause a set amount of damage, so it was comparatively simple to predict a failure period. The shift to lead-free solder brought many alloys with different parameters, forcing researchers to find new ways to simplify the comparisons.
After extensive consideration of what physical parameters were most important for reliability, the Council's experts determined that solder creep was one of the key factors that determined many solder qualities.
"If alloys have similar creep values, they are expected to have the same reliability performance over a product's lifetime," Munie said.
The white paper's goal is to provide a simpler, more straightforward way to compare new lead-free alloys. But the document's creation was not exactly simple or straightforward. It took a while to settle on the best strategy for determining the optimum sample configuration for testing. Eventually a thermally aged dog-bone sample was chosen.
As word of the Council's effort got around, interest grew, from iNEMI researchers to IPC's own Pb-free Electronics Risk Management (PERM) Consortium.
"The SPVC sat down and compared notes looking at all of PERM's extensive work on failure modes distinct to lead-free as opposed to the established failure modes for leaded solder," Munie said. "But as we considered our goals, we determined that for our simple comparison of alloys, our sample preparation method would suffice."
The availability of the IPC SPVC white paper should save users a lot of time.
"This will have some appeal for anyone involved in manufacturing," Munie said. "It is our hope that companies can compare physical properties and make informed decisions. They won't have to build models and thermally cycle for every alloy."
To download the IPC SPVC white paper, visit http://www.ipc.org/WP-013.