ROHS

Google it.
Restrictions of Hazardous Substances compliance.

 

What you meant to say:Let me google that for you

 

No hazards materials that might end up in a land fill. The biggest restriction is lead solder.

 

Ro-hoss...

I spent a lot of time with that stuff, reworking and reflowing those ugly joints created by this stuff.

It ate up the pogo pins on our genrad tester. And boards had a scum on them that was almost impossible to get off.

I don't miss working with it.

 

It's ludicrous in that many of the solder formulations to replace SN63/37 have metals in them that are far more harmful than the lead they seek to replace. Lead is/was an easy target. They basically have stuck the consumer electronics industry with an inferior harder to work with material. There is a reason that lead was added in the first place, to stop a phenomenon called "tin whiskers". These are tiny hairs of tin that grow on lead free/tin solder joints and created solder shorts. They found in the late 30's early 40's that if they added the lead to the solder it stopped it. Now since the lead has been removed, Tin whiskers have become a concern again. There is a reason that Space, Military, Medical or equipment for aircraft is exempt from this stuff, it is not reliable. Further, they still do not know exactly why the whiskers form.

 

RoHS
[Removal] of Hazardous Substances. Re
an initiative by the european union to remove hazardous materials from electronic items that might end up in a landfill. everybody else (US included) jumped on board by about 2001 as not to violate the terms set by the eu... very intersting stuff ...yawn...

 

It was THE dumbest move in the HISTORY of electronics. Our cars still use lead acid batteries and they contribute to a massive amount of lead in landfills...

DONT THROW ELECTRONICS OR BATTERIES IN THE WASTE BIN!