GEIA plans guidance on lead-free parts

The U.S. aerospace industry group, The Government Electronics Industries Association (GEIA), is planning to release guidelines on performance and qualification testing for lead-free solder during the first quarter of 2008. According to an item in ELFNET, the GEIA report, “Guidance Regarding the Performance and Qualification Testing of Aerospace and High-Performance Lead-Free Interconnects,” will be released at the end of this year at the earliest.

The reason behind the guidelines is that aerospace manufacturers may find themselves using lead-free parts even though they are exempt as an industry. For the past couple decades, the defense and aerospace industries have been buying commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) parts because they are less expensive than the hi-reliability military-specification parts.

Most of the suppliers of COTS parts are now moving to lead-free versions and some of them are phasing out their leaded versions. Consequently, many aerospace manufacturers are considering the use lead-free parts. If so, they’re going to need considerable information about the performance and qualification of lead-free components. The project from GEIA will give industry guidance, including test procedures for predicting performance and reliability in the harsh environments common to the aerospace industries.

Original text is here