Lead-Free Soldering

Engineers Investigate Lead-Free Soldering

ScienceDaily (June 27, 2009) — Research carried out by a University of Leicester engineer aims to improve reliability of lead-free soldering alloys that are used to make electronic devices.This attempt to take one more step towards implementing new environmentally-friendly materials in electronics production is supported by the Materials Research Group, Department of Engineering, University of Leicester.

Due to the considerable toxicity of lead, health concerns, environmental and legislation reasons efforts have been made to replace the traditional soldering alloys with new compositions. However, the reliability of the new Lead-Free materials requires further investigation.

Sergey Belyakov will be presenting his research at the Festival of Postgraduate Research which is taking place on the 25th June at the University of Leicester.

Belyakov said: “Traditional lead-based alloys have a 50 year history and there has been extensive investigation of their micro-structural stability and reliability.”

“New solder materials have been proposed to replace the traditional alloys but there may be a deterioration in the reliability of solder-joints and consequently, the reliability of a piece of electronic equipment.

“The objective of the research is to bridge the technical gaps and meet the challenges of lead-free solder application in the electronics industry through the fundamental understanding of lead-free assembly and reliability issues.

“The research also demonstrates the effect of lead-free solder alloy composition on the interfacial reactions and micro-structural features.”

TMS Board Approves Advocacy Policy

The TMS Board of Directors has approved a policy that sets guidelines for taking an advocacy position of significance to the materials science and technology community. The policy, TMS Advocacy Guiding Values and Approval Process, which was approved in May, identifies guiding values and advocacy activities to be followed when considering requests to sign letters or endorse position papers.

The guiding values are:

• Recognizing the importance of advocacy and the involvement of ordinary citizens in the political process, TMS will work to educate our elected officials through the efforts of its own Public & Governmental Affairs (P&GA) Committee and in unison with other professional societies. These efforts will focus on the promotion of materials science and technology and involve themes that are widely shared by the TMS membership.
• TMS will not advocate for a position that favors one technology solution or member group over another.
• TMS will not engage in any advocacy activities that will fall into the category of lobbying and jeopardize TMS' 501(c)(3) status.
• TMS will not advocate any positions that impact any specific regulation that may benefit member organizations in a preferential way.
• TMS will be transparent in determining and communicating those positions for which it does provide advocacy and will openly communicate its endorsement activities.

Focus areas addressed in the new policy are: funding for broad-based materials-related research and development; support for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs; promoting the materials science and engineering profession; production, use, conservation, and storage of energy; environmental and health impacts and applications of materials; sustainable materials design and processing, including resource recovery and recyclability; and more effective approaches to the issuance of visas that maintain open borders for genuine scientific exchange.

A copy of the TMS Advocacy Guiding Values and Approval Process, along with any TMS-endorsed advocacy position, can be found in the TMS Public Affairs and Governmental Resource Center.

Is Nanotechnology Safe? Interactions Between Nanomaterials And Biological Systems Explored

Is Nanotechnology Safe? Interactions Between Nanomaterials And Biological Systems Explored

US physicists create thinnest superconducting metal June 9th, 2009 - 4:51 am ICT by IANS

Washington, June 9 (Xinhua) A superconducting metal sheet with just two atoms thick has been developed by physicists at the University of Texas in Austin.
The university said in a statement Monday that it was the thinnest superconducting metal layer ever created.

The development of the thin superconducting sheets of lead lays the groundwork for future advancements in superconductor technologies.

The superconductors are unique as they can maintain an electrical current indefinitely with no power source. They are used in MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machines, particle accelerators, quantum interference devices and other applications.

Professor Ken Shih and his colleagues first reported about their creation in the June 5 issue of Science.

“To be able to control this material - to shape it into new geometries - and explore what happens is very exciting,” says Shih. “My hope is that this superconductive surface will enable one to build devices and study new properties of superconductivity.”

In superconductors, electrons move through the material together in pairs, called Cooper pairs.

One of the innovative properties of Shih’s ultra-thin lead is that it confines the electrons to move in two dimensions. Quite uniquely, the lead remains a good superconductor despite the constrained movement of the electrons through the metal.

Shih and his colleagues used advanced materials synthesis techniques to lay the two-atom thick sheet of lead atop a thin silicon surface. The lead sheets are highly uniform with no impurities.

“We can make this film, and it has perfect crystalline structure - more perfect than most thin films made of other materials,” says Shih.

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