Talk:Solder

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1 Examples
2 Lead-Free Solder
3 Etymology
4 Silver solder
5 Measuring the tin content in solder

[edit] Examples

There are all kinds of parameters/variables for solder. Diameter, core material and core diameter, types of metals, ratio of different metals, etc etc. Can we give examples of, for instance, a good leadfree solder for small hobbyist/repair electronics work, a good solder for small copper pipes, etc.? And explain why each aspect is best for that application. - Omegatron 16:33, Feb 11, 2005 (UTC)

http://www.efdsolder.com/PDF/EFD_-_Alloy_%2B_Flux_Selection_Guide.pdf

[edit] Lead-Free Solder

As a veteran electronics engineer, I think the disadvantages of lead-free solder should be exposed, despite the headlong rush to get lead out of electrical and electronic products. IBM researchers futzed around with lead free solders in the 1960s, and after wasting several years, gave up.

The simple fact is, most electrical and electronic parts are designed to work best with eutectic solder, i.e., the ones with the lowest melting temperature. The epoxies used to encapsulate integrated circuits already soften dangerously at the temperatures needed for reflow soldering of Sn60/Pb40 solder, and the higher temperatures and longer dwell times required for lead-free solders can damage them and cause premature failure. The platings used on component leads are optimised for eutectic solder. It is not enough to just switch solder formulas. The entire industry gets turned on its head in the effort. With higher processing cost and lower reliability, the end users bear the cost. Lower reliability means products will fail earlier, greatly contributing to the waste stream going into landfills.

Policies such as RoHS only be implemented because politicians are ignorant of science and technology. I take consolation in the hope that some of those politicians will meet their maker due to a critical component failure in the car or airplane in which they are riding.

-- Quicksilver 01:29, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I would like to add another potential concern with lead-free solder when used with electronic components. Over time where pure tin exists, the tin can actually grow or form small spurs often called "tin whiskers". These tin whiskers can cause short circuits or cause other problems in electronics equipment. The cause of the growth of the whiskers is not fully understood, but adding lead to the tin seems to help reduce or eliminate the growth. Many electronic components that are meant for use with lead-free solder are plated with pure tin in the factory (instead of tin/lead solder). This means that over time, they may produce whiskers that could cause failures of the electronics equipment. Many good articles are available for further research on the web. NASA has done a lot of reseach on the topic. C. D. Brown

Both the solder article and the comments talk about Sn60/Pb40 as the stndard electronics solder. My experience has been that Sn63/Pb37 is preferable, because it has a lower melting point. We cleaned all the 60/40 out of my shop quite some time ago. Now we are working to develop a lead free shop.

 -Allison Sibert, Engineering Assistant, High Energy Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana, sibert@uiuc.edu

[edit] Etymology

I'm gonna move it into the first paragraph area. If that's not acceptable, move it back. Or something. --CCFreak2K 01:21, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Done. The sentence doesn't look quite right grammatically though, so someone else should check it. --CCFreak2K 01:24, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Silver solder

Does anyone have any information to add about "silver soldering"? What makes it different? Is it purely the make-up of the solder being used or is the equipment/process itself fundamentally different?