Material Ageing and Storage

Subscribe to Thread

We are increasingly being asked to store components for lon... - Feb 22, 2001 by

SCOTT- We do solderability testing for the electronics indu... - Feb 22, 2001 by CAL

We don't do this, but if we had to and lacking better advice... - Feb 22, 2001 by davef

Scott B

#5321

Material Ageing and Storage | 22 February, 2001

We are increasingly being asked to store components for longer and longer periods which we know through experience leads to reduction or total loss of solderability of the parts.

1) What is the industry accepted shelf life of tin/lead plated components (both through hole and surface mount) and is there any readilly available documentation to back this up.

2) We currently do solderability testing of parts using the Mil-Std method of using a solder pot however surface mount parts passing this test often fail to solder in production. Are there any other qualified solderability testing methods more suited to surface mount components.

3) Does anyone store components in an inert atmosphere (Nitrogen) and if so, in what volumes and in what equipment. What are the running cost of such storage methods and what sort of capital outlay is required.

Thanks

Scott

reply »

CAL

#5325

Material Ageing and Storage | 22 February, 2001

SCOTT- We do solderability testing for the electronics industry using a Multicore and Kester Wetting Balance testers. The standards we test to is IPC J-STD 002 for components and J-STD 003 for PCBs. There is also a system called SERA we co-developed that can identify solderability issues. Just so happens in our Monthly technical news bulletin (Jan-01) we cover solderability issues.

This news bulletin is open to all......If you want it email me and I will send it to you.

We also use an additional unit we co-developed called ROSA to revert components and PCB's back to their original state as if they were brand new.

CAL Driscoll ACI Philadelphia, PA 610-362-1200 x 272 cdriscoll@aci-corp.org

reply »

davef

#5338

Material Ageing and Storage | 22 February, 2001

We don't do this, but if we had to and lacking better advice, for all components I�d dry pack according to J-STD-033, store in a low temperature and humidity controlled environment [maybe using some semicon fab inert storage cabinets], review the effectiveness of the pack periodically, and keep our finger crossed.

reply »