Electronics > Beginners

Why not lead-free

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metebalci:
I sometimes see here people saying they use or recommend 60/40 or 63/37. I am not soldering often and probably partly because of that I am not good at it but I did some reasonable SMD soldering for prototypes as well. Is there a reason why people still dont use lead-free solder ? I used SnPb solder many years ago and using lead-free for 5+ years and I dont see a too big difference at least not something affecting my hobby/prototype work. Am I missing something ? (I have a pretty good soldering station and using SAC305 type solder)

u666sa:
63/37 is a bit better than 60/40 when compared side by side.  :-//

Lead free is brittle. So if you are replacing USB-C connector it makes absolutely no sense to stick it onto the same solder that made it fall off in the first place. Same with BGA when doing reball. Boards do get crooked and lead free does break connection. That said, there are some situations when lead free is used, almost always it is high temp scenarios. Power connectors on graphic cards. GPU's. CPU's.

ArdWar:

--- Quote from: metebalci on September 22, 2023, 06:27:37 am ---I dont see a too big difference at least not something affecting my hobby/prototype work.

--- End quote ---
I mean, it can work fine if you got the proper iron. At least until you try to drag solder a fine pitch TQFP or trying to manually solder a BGA without reballing.

As for high temperature solder, I wish they're more widely used for board mounted modules. Nothing like reflowing your assembly and ends up discovering your module reflowed too...

wraper:

--- Quote from: u666sa on September 22, 2023, 07:32:29 am ---Lead free is brittle. So if you are replacing USB-C connector it makes absolutely no sense to stick it onto the same solder that made it fall off in the first place.

--- End quote ---
Lead free generally has higher tensile and shear strength but lower fatigue life. But there are different alloys with vastly different properties to begin with. Leaded solder is generally suggested for beginners because of lower melting temperature and because it flows better. Therefore it's easier to solder with and it's more forgiving to lack of a skill and good tools.

mikeselectricstuff:
IME Leadfree flux fumes are nastier, though this probably varies by brand

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