Corrosion Testing For Electronic Equipment

Mixed flowing gas (MFG) testing is used to demonstrate the ability of an electronic product or system to survive use in a corrosive environment. MFG testing is designed to corrode copper and silver, which are often used in electronic products. However, MFG tests have failed to identify failure issues in recent years. These failures have been predominately related to the corrosion of silver. To understand these test escapes, tests examining silver and copper corrosion under MFG have been conducted. For comparison, flower of sulfur (FoS) test at 75oC was also conducted. The test results show that the rate of copper and silver corrosion is not equivalent but varies based on gas concentration and may explain the failure escapes. This webinar will review corrosion test methods used in for electronics and discuss the issue with MFG and approaches for correcting the issue.

About the Presenter: Dr. Michael Osterman is a senior research scientist and director of the CALCE Electronics Products and Systems Consortium. He has published extensively on solder interconnect reliability and modeling for electronic products. He also leads the development of the CALCE Simulation Assisted Reliability Assessment software. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of SMTA and ASME.