The RoHS Directive
What is RoHS?
This is the question I have heard most often since the last post. Although we are all capable of looking up the answer, I will give the “nutshell” version.
The RoHS Directive stands for ”the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment”. Sounds simple enough.
It specifically limits the amount of the following chemicals in new electric and electronic equipment:
- lead
- cadmium
- mercury
- hexavalent chromium
- polybrominated biphenyl (PBB)
- and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants.
While RoHS (sometimes pronounced rohaas) is a European directive, in our global economy, many US manufactures are required to meet these specifications if they want to sell their products in Europe.
What does all this mean to us? Besides less toxic chemical polution, I have noticed that some flexible materials (rubber, etc) is not as flexible as it was before. Clear plastics are not quite as clear. These are easy enough to adjust to.
But as a side effect of these directives, a daemon in the form of tin whiskers has revealed itself. More on that later.
If you want to read all the scintillating details of the RoHS directive for yourself, follow the link under As Seen On BGL.
