Lead Testing: Why some products actually need lead
drew on Jun 17th, 2009So, I’ve spent a lot of time lately talking about all the new lead laws and how new lead testing will be required to make sure consumer products don’t have any lead in them. However, what I haven’t spent a lot of time talking about are the other industries that actually need lead in their products, and why.
You’ll notice on i-Nalysis.com, we talk about how XRF technology and testing is not just for consumer markets (think toys jewelers and consumer electronics), but also very necessary in the military and aerospace and medical device space. The reason being, these industries, that make and sell “high-reliability” electronics, need lead in them to last a long time and avoid disasters.
When tin is used in place of lead in these types of equipment, given the elemental makeup and nature of the material, tiny microscopic splinters start sprouting, called tin whiskers. These “whiskers” are usually less than a millimeter long, and are like little hairs that grow out of the tin over time. Sound harmless? Well it isn’t. These tin whiskers can flake off or bridge separate parts of circuit boards, causing shorts and failures. Adding lead to tin parts greatly reduces the formation of whiskers, which is why things like communications equipment in airplanes, or pacemakers, need lead in them. As long as the lead isn’t in direct contact with a human body or being ingested, it doesn’t pose a health risk and instead, it reduces the risk that these electronics will fail.
So you might ask – how does XRF fit into this? Isn’t the solution simply that makers of high-reliability electronics should buy components and parts with lead in them, while manufacturers of consumer products should buy everything lead-free?
Truth be told – yes, that is the solution. But it’s not that easy. Manufacturers in every industry buy from multiple distributors, and parts can easily be mislabeled. So when you think you’re getting something that is lead-free, or that has lead in it, you might not actually be receiving what you should be. Hence the need for XRF scanners that can immediately detect lead content and tell you if you got what you paid for.
=Drew
