[Milsurplus] [Fwd: [Boatanchors] solder whiskers grow on "non lead" solder]

[n griggs]

GE had a problem with this on early models of their Phoenix radios.  The radio would slowly start to loose sensitiviity.  If you pulled the shield off the front end, there would be whiskers all along the walls.  Their 'fix' was to take a cotton swab dipped in alcohol and swab the walls to remove the whiskers.  I think they eventually changed the metal formula to keep this from happening to future radios.
Neal KC4YCM

--- On Sat, 1/8/11, Clare Owens <clare.owens at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Clare Owens <clare.owens at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Milsurplus] [Fwd: [Boatanchors] solder whiskers grow on "non lead" solder]
To: jfor at quik.com
Cc: armyradios at yahoogroups.com, milsurplus at mailman.qth.net
Date: Saturday, January 8, 2011, 3:14 PM

Many years ago I bought a Heathkit geiger counter but it was so poorly
soldered and besede that had been stored in a very damp place so I scrapped
it for parts.  I was curious about the contents of the HV power supply can
so I removed the screws and popped its lid off.  To my amazement the
interior was fuzzy with super fine whiskers.  I've saved the can all these
years and today's email led me to take some close up pictures.  I created an
armyradios Yahoo group picture album titled Tin Whiskers and uploaded the
best two pictures.  A few of the whiskers are over 1/4 inch but are
extremely hard to photograph since they are so incredibly thin and light
reflection is hard to arrange.  Not solder whiskers but interesting to see
what can "grow" on tin in the right circumstances in our equipment.

Enjoy,

Clare  N2RJB


On Sat, Jan 8, 2011 at 1:46 PM, J. Forster <jfor at quik.com> wrote:

> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> Subject: [Boatanchors] solder whiskers grow on "non lead" solder
> From:    "Bob W5UQ" <W5UQ at att.NET>
> Date:    Sat, January 8, 2011 10:38 am
> To:      boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> if anything, reading the conclusion of this article is very interesting.
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/apr/03/research.engineering
>
>
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