Is RoHS Leading To More Electronic Failures?
Posted on Wed, Dec 07, 2011
Has RoHS led to an overall increase in electronic failures in industrial settings? The ISA (International Society of Automation) seems to think so. In an article released last month, the ISA reported that printed circuit boards with lead-free material have had an increase in corrosion over their lead/tin counterparts. This has resulted in the ISA having to revamp its reactivity monitoring process to ensure a more thorough environmental assessment. The research, done by companies such as IBM and HP and organizations such as IPC, found that copper-only reactivity monitoring which is used in current testing is not accurately measuring the reactivity level of the environment for RoHS compliant electronic equipment.
As a result, the ISA has decided to measure the copper and silver reactivity levels and make an assessment based on the higher of the two. The ISA71 committee has already begun to drawn up a plan to implement the new standards as well as addressing a few others. We hope that these new standards will increase the life of industrial applications of printed circuit boards.
Official ISA Release
InTech Article
