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Could potting prevent this, or can the whiskers "push through" epoxy?
Edit: Go look at the more detailed response from robomartin
Could potting prevent this, or can the whiskers "push through" epoxy?
> No one has been able to eliminate whiskering, as the phenomenon is not yet fully understood. It's the kind of stuff we should be embarrassed not to understand. I get that understanding living things can be tricky due to complexity and issues with controlling conditions, but a lump of metal? Whatever we find out will at least save us money in damaged devices, and hopefully drive some progress in metallurgy as well.…
Use lead solder, like NASA does: easier to use, and no whisker issues. Just wash your hands afterwards
Better to solve these issues long-term. Lead's external costs in full product lifecycles are just too high.
> No one has been able to eliminate whiskering, as the phenomenon is not yet fully understood. It's the kind of stuff we should be embarrassed not to understand. I get that understanding living things can be tricky due to complexity and issues with controlling conditions, but a lump of metal? Whatever we find out will at least save us money in damaged devices, and hopefully drive some progress in metallurgy as well.…
We understand it. Onset is stochastic. Mitigation is impossible given current regulations in consumer-land. Read my longer comment for further details.
EDIT: What I mean by "we understand it" is that we know that lead-free solder chemistry leads to tin whisker growth. When I was taking a deep dive into this many years back, the researchers I was working with at NASA told me "Growth onset can be 0 days to 3 years after manufacturing. Your guess is as good as mine.". And, BTW, you can have growth start in a few days in one corner of the PCB and a few months later elsewhere. It's a complex relationship of materials properties.
We know that tin whisker growth in lead-free solder is as much of a reality as gravity is between two celestial bodies. In other words, it will happen. We simply have no way to predict when or how quickly they will grow. It might just be too complex to compute/predict given the variables involved.
Use lead solder, like NASA does: easier to use, and no whisker issues. Just wash your hands afterwards
I wouldn't recommend this. If you do use lead soldering, make sure you don't breathe in any fumes.
The fumes from soldering are from the flux or rosin, and that is just as dangerous if you are using lead free solder. Always use adequate ventilation and/or filtration to avoid inhaling fumes.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The boiling point of lead is 1749 °C (3180 °F).
That by itself does not imply fumes cannot form at lower temperatures.
If lead was so easily dissolved into air, wouldn't we have had massive issues in electronics factories? I don't recall ever reading such a thing ( as opposed to painters madness for example ). Not a native speaker, probably doesn't translate too well.
After seeing the articles on ice spikes, I wonder if this is somehow a related phenomenon.