I find lead free solder very difficult to work with (I bought some by mistake). I see the EU claims to have banned it altogether, yet I can easily buy lead solder ("hobbyist's solder") in the UK. I see it's not allowed to use lead free in aircraft or medical situations (because of the high chance of it suffering form vibration and heat change fatigue), but it's required to be used in cars. What's going on?
Are you so incapable of using google and finding out for yourself?
A man of your calibre with a degree in Micro-electronics, or is it Physics, and an IQ close to that of Marvin, you should already know.
The main concern in aerospace applications is tin whisker formation. Lead-free solders tend to be worse as suppressing their formation than lead-based solders. Most medical equipment is made using lead-free solder. Try using germanium doped lead free solder from Chipquik. It is not too bad. Or just carry on using tin-lead. I use both, depending on the circumstances.
John
Did you mean Tin/Bismuth (Sn42Bi58) solder? They also do an Indium based solder that melts at 118C.
I used the Sn42Bi58 recently but you can't get solder balls in the stuff, so had to relent and use Sn63Pb37 solder balls when reballing a BGA. I do find the lead free solders require very high temperatures where I seem to burn the flux during reflow or using a hot air gun.
No, I really did mean tin with germanium and a few other elements. It has quite a high melting point but makes nice looking joints. I have also used the very low melting point bismuth ones you mention.
John
I wish they'd not mandated lead free in cars either. It was a frightening experience to lose power in the third lane of a very busy motorway, during rush-hour, where the hard-shoulder was closed off for roadworks! All due to a dry joint on the instrument cluster - it apparently had the chip for the security system on it and loss of comms cut the engine to idle, regardless of need.
Re-soldering the pins for the connecting lead to plug onto, using lead solder, permanently solved the problem.
and heat change fatigue), but it's required to be used in cars. What's going on?
Greenies need something to crow about. Most of that lead free soder is not worth carrying home in my opinion. The lead is bad for the enviroment, not counting how much is in the ground and that is where it came from in the first place.It started in the US around 50 years ago with the lead in paint and babies eating the paint off the walls. Moonshiners used car radiators that were soldered and the lead leached out and caused all kinds of problems to the drinkers. I told my wife about 40 years ago some one was going to decide the lead in all the water pipes would do the same. Sure enough 10 or so years later someone thought about that.
Lead solder has a tendency to grow' whiskers' of tin and short out electronic equipment.
My bad, I see the SN100C (Ge) solder is perhaps preferred for hand-soldering and wave soldering but the traditional SAC solder is used for SMD and reflow due to the lower melting temperatures.
I thought the US was one of the last countries to mandate lead free components and solder?
Don't you mean lead free? That is one of the reasons why silver is added to tin to reduce whiskers. Tin-lead solders still grown whiskers but not as badly as in SAC solders.
Well the stuff I just tried to use is utterly useless! It seems to solidify instantly. It's not conducting heat more than a mm from the tip of the iron, impossible to solder a big joint. I set the iron to 450C and it's still doing it.
I've put it on sale and I'm buying some lead stuff instead. On the lighter side of the news, it seems to be worth twice as much as lead solder, so I'm going to make a profit. Maybe I should keep doing so?
I've never seen a baby attempt to eat part of a wall.
My parents had lead pipes, I see no evidence in them of any problems.
I've never noticed that.
Ralph , I think you meant to say :
That is why I only use lead/tin solder on electronics projects .
yea, lead free. Brain was moving faster than the fingers.
Yes, lead FREE. I only use 60/40 or better yet 63/37 tin/lead.
One neurological symptoms of lead ingestion is sociopathy.
They say it's not the sort of thing an individual will notice themselves and furthermore likely to be in denial of the mental state.
Soldering while drinking is probably not good for accuracy.
That makes more sense. Although how does a metal "grow"? Is this after or during application?
I also only use lead solder, but I'm wondering how I can buy it so easily since the EU banned it. Yes I know the UK left, but I could buy it before then too.
Rather concerning they're using it in cars when it's not safe enough in aeroplanes. Renault electrics is bad enough as it is!
Lead solder is I believe allowed for repairs and hobbyists, just not for production.
I still have a reel of solder my brother gave me when I was 15 (early 60s). He was in the Navy at the time and also gave me a soldering iron which only finally packed up a couple of years ago. With that came a number of surplus small 2V lead acid batteries, brand new, and some relays. All this kit was navy surplus which otheriwse was going for scrap. I had some fun building some logic circuits with the relays, powered by the batteries, which only needed water and charging.
Ive got 3 reels of lead tin - enough to see me out for the small amount of soldering I do.
It is allowed for military & medical uses. Where it matters.
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