http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/16aug_solder.htm
Edited: 28 Mar 2006, 2:53 p.m.
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solder in space
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03-28-2006, 02:53 PM
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/16aug_solder.htm Edited: 28 Mar 2006, 2:53 p.m. ▼
03-28-2006, 04:27 PM
Interesting. This could be important if one of us gets a seat on the Mars mission and takes along a bunch of broken HP calculators to fix in his/her spare time.
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03-28-2006, 04:35 PM
:-D
03-29-2006, 10:59 AM
Get 'em fixed FAST. I don't think it has to be the thirteenth mission in a series named after a Greek god to suffer a systemwide computer failure... ... oh, and bring a freshman physics text (HP manuals aren't what they used to be); even advanced spacefarers can use that to get home!
03-28-2006, 05:49 PM
That's terrible! I mean, don't we have enough of war here on Earth without shipping our solders off... Oh, wait ..
03-29-2006, 11:02 AM
Another neat thing solder can do in space is grow huge tin "whiskers". This phenomnon has damaged saveral satellites. Hughes, in particular, had a bunch of relays short out because the whiskers shorted out the relay contacts. ▼
03-29-2006, 12:33 PM
That's fascinating! What causes the precipitation of tin from the solidified melt, the reduced pressure?
03-29-2006, 02:00 PM
Whiskers grow here on earth, too. They are a major problem with some galvanized steel computer room platforms--you know the ones, with the perforated floors. They also grow inside electronics. The end result is shorting out of stuff. Can be very expensive. What causes them? Thermodynamics!:-)
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03-29-2006, 10:36 PM
Yes, yes, of course it's thermodynamics. But I am not all that familiar with the long term chemistry of solders. I am somewhat familiar with the chemistry of semiconductors. I am surprised that whiskers would segregate and grow in, say a chip or a component. Or, do you mean at the contacts or junctions? |