[Elecraft] Solder

[Mike S]

At 06:51 PM 12/21/2006, Ron D'Eau Claire wrote...
>I hope we didn't drive you away with the answers, Rob!
>
>Keep in mind that there is NOTHING wrong with the quality and 
>durability of
>joints that lead-free solder makes. It's great stuff that works very 
>well.

It's very premature to make that claim.

There are real concerns that lead-free solders are less reliable. Lead 
free solder joints are more fragile - 
http://www.pcbrc.com/dev/PDFs/WhitePaper-SACfragility1.pdf  Little is 
known about how to avoid the "tin whisker" problem, and the 
corresponding reliability issues - 
http://ap.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=ARTCL&ARTICLE_ID=233627&VERSION_NUM=2&p=95

It's interesting to note that many life critical systems (medical, 
aerospace, military) are exempted from RoHS.