National Physical Laboratory launches new collaborative industry project

National Physical Laboratory has launched a new collaborative industry project- Measurements of Copper Dissolution in Lead-Free Solder Alloys.

One of the problems associated with the switch from tin-lead to lead-free is the increased tendency of copper dissolution in molten solders.

This has been confirmed by Martin Morrell, Managing Director of Artetch Circuits in Littlehampton, UK who has stated: "It seems very timely to conduct this investigation. We have seen a marked increase in customers finding issues related to copper dissolution since they moved over to lead-free assembly. I think the findings of this project are urgently needed as we tend only to see the catastrophic effects of copper loss".
 
This NPL project aims to bring together interested parties who need to deal with the new lead-free alloys in situations where the copper dissolution is a concern. The project can potentially include various lead-free alloys as well as different temperatures and soldering technologies eg wave, selective and reflow soldering, in order to understand what happens in real industrial processes. A measuring method will be developed as part of the project and will be used to test the alloys.

Partners will have the chance to influence directly the project by making it relevant to their production scenario, design, equipment, alloys, PCB finish and so on and they will be able to access experimental results at all times, before the end of the project.

The partners for this studio project are expected to be drawn from solder alloy manufacturers, wave soldering manufacturers and end users wishing to get a better understanding of the problem. An initial meeting for this project has been announced for 7th December 2006 at The Oxfordshire Conference Centre in Thame, Oxfordshire.

This meeting is an opportunity to explore what the project might achieve and who are the likely partners.

For more information contact: Chris Hunt, Tel  + 44 (0)208 943 7027, email chris.hunt@npl.co.uk or Davide Di Maio   Tel + 44 (0)2089 943 6759, email davide.di.maio@npl.co.uk