Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive

The EU Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1) the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment regulates the use of hazardous substances in devices and components. The aim of the Directive is the restriction of unwanted ingredients in electrical and electronic equipment placed on the EU market. ( :; " Restriction ( the use of certain ) hazardous substances " german German Restriction of (the use of Certain ) Hazardous Substances) referred you, and the respective implementation in national law is summarily described with RoHS.

The EU Directive 2002/95/EC (RoHS 1) has been replaced by, which came into force on January 3, 2013 EU Directive 2011/65/EU (RoHS 2).

Target

The aim is to ban extremely problematic components from the products in the wake of the massive expansion of disposable electronics. This includes, among other things, enforce the lead-free soldering of electronic components to ban toxic flame retardants in the manufacture of cables and to strengthen the implementation of appropriate substitutes. Furthermore, the parts and components used must be free of relevant substances themselves.

This has a direct impact on participating companies such as importers, sole proprietorship (also small hardware companies) or of commercial and retail chains, and therefore, ultimately, for consumers.

Substances and thresholds

Common substances of the electronics are considered extremely dangerous for the environment because they are toxic for one, can not or only poorly be reduced to the other. These substances should be banned by the RoHS from the products. Are affected

After the original Directive, these substances were not in principle be included in products. Since this requirement would have been technically impossible to implement production and small amounts can not be proven analytically, 2005, concrete limits for homogeneous materials contained in the product have been defined in an amendment to the Directive of 18 August:

• Maximum of 0.01 weight percent cadmium
• Maximum for each 0.1 percent by weight of lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE.

In accordance with Article 4, paragraph 3, the Directive also reserves the prohibition of other substances, if new scientific studies point to a health and / or environmental hazard of these substances. For such a change a decision ( EC) is necessary.

Implementation

The implementation of RoHS requires a conversion of many widespread production. Particularly problematic frequently the use of lead-free solder is seen. Since estimates of the long-term reliability of the new method are not yet available and could result in safety-relevant areas, such as in cars, in aviation and medicine and the military to serious problems, there are at least temporarily, a number of exceptions. The RoHS will therefore be updated with progressive experience.

The exception rule for the medicine was limited by the Directive 2011/65/EU of the European Union now in time. Medical devices that from 22 July 2014 and in vitro diagnostic medical devices placed on the market from July 22, 2016 must now also comply with the RoHS Directive.

This policy also applies to industrial monitoring and control instruments placed on the market from 22 July 2017.

Lead-free solder

Tin-silver and tin -copper alloys

To switch to lead-free solder joints detachment of the usual Sn60Pb40 solders and the introduction of higher melting SnCu or SnAgCu solders is tested by many manufacturers. In this case (100 to 200% by the silver and patent costs ) show up except for the higher cost of lead-free solders also have problems with the qualitative assessment of the " duller " solder joints with the use of silver-containing alloys. There are also still some adaptation problems in the processes. Here the use of silver-containing alloys, an assessment of the machine is highly recommended. In general, it is not worth rebuilding existing machines. Besides a new crucible and the crucible entire inventory, a longer preheating is required. Furthermore, can dissolve both silver stainless steel and titanium. For the solder pot and solder nozzles therefore coated steel used. However, this coating is sensitive to mechanical stress (drilling, scratching, hitting ).

The entire thermal process window has become smaller: So the temperature difference between the melting point of Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7 ( 217 ° C) and the operating temperature of 260 ° C is only 43 K. For comparison, it is the Sn63Pb37 (melting point 186 ° C and a working temperature 250 ° C) 64 K. This may cause, for example, that for multilayer circuit boards, printed circuit boards with heat sinks, transformers or other heat -removing components the solder at the high rise in the via already solidified before it reaches the top and the contact is made ​​. As a way to increase the energy input during the Vorheizungsphase is possible, but also to escape the heat sink of the circuit board still plenty of heat. Working with higher soldering temperatures (up to about 280 ° C ), however, would certainly increase the process window, but can be for small components with low heat capacity lead to melting effects. An estimate in advance is difficult, as many components are still specified in the data sheet to 260 ° C.

The use of nitrogen to avoid oxidation products is useful. Even an increase of 30 ppm to 500 ppm residual oxygen content brings a massive formation of slag with it. Meanwhile, there are also long-term evidence on the reliability produced in such devices. Another hitherto unsolved problem is the formation of whiskers that can cause short circuits on circuit boards. Particularly at risk are modules with high working temperatures (computer, power amplifier ). Therefore, lead-free solder has been banned due to non-compliance of parameters in safety-relevant areas.

Difficult is the conversion of production in older products where the corresponding components are no longer manufactured or the production processes have not yet been converted. It will then seek suitable replacement components and integrate them into correspondingly adapted designs (eg motherboards ).

An exception to the rule is for spare parts that are intended for the repair or reuse of electrical and electronic equipment, which were put on the market before 1 July 2006 ( EC Directive 2002/95/EC Article 2, Paragraph 3).

Tin -bismuth alloys

Another alternative is tin -bismuth alloys dar. The melting point of 139 ° C with SnBi is even lower than that of SnPb at 183 ° C, bringing the thermal load of the components can be reduced. The disadvantage is that tin - bismuth is very sensitive to lead (keyword Roses metal). Due to the limited availability of tin -bismuth alloys can be used only for niches. For a general application, the amount is not enough.

Exceptions

For the time being exempted from this directive are medical devices and monitoring and control instruments and by the fulfillment of the Old Car, the car electronics and the military sector. For repairs by human hands, the increased melting temperatures and the properties of lead-free solder are problematic. Therefore, they may continue to be executed with leaded solder.

The preliminary exceptions, the Directive are:

• Halo phosphate 10 mg
• Triphosphate with normal lifetime 5 mg

• Lead in solders for servers, storage and storage array systems, network infrastructure equipment for switching, signaling, transmission as well as network management for telecommunications,
• Lead in electronic ceramic parts (eg piezo- electronic components).

Legal regulations

The EU Directive was adopted on 27 January 2003. By the end of 2004, the implementation should be done in national law in the EU Member States. However, the situation in each country is different.

In Germany occurred on August 13, 2005, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act in force, which has been realized in addition to the RoHS and the EU WEEE directive (reduction and disposal of electronic waste ) into German law. The transition period for the affected manufacturers and industries ran until 1 July 2006.

In Austria the implementation of the RoHS and WEEE is governed by the WEEE Ordinance, which came into force on 30 April 2005.

Comparable regulations in countries outside of the European Union

The moved to Switzerland ( Ordinance on Chemical Risk Reduction Ordinance ) with the adoption of ChemRRV.

Even in countries such as Japan and the USA are similar regulations in conversation, in implementation or already in force.

In the People's Republic of China took effect on 1 March 2007, the "China RoHS " ( Management Methods for Controlling Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products Regulation ) came into force. In the industry thus leads to a broad set of rules with prohibited substances, certifications and / or customs controls and labeling requirements. The scope of the Directive refers first to the same six classes of the RoHS Directive. In addition, there are guidelines for energy efficiency, easy recycling and environmental sustainability. Moreover, the packaging must be compatible with the environment and the materials are named.

Norway has introduced under the name PoHS a draft policy that will prohibit a total of 18 substances in consumer products. Here, the PoHS overlaps with the RoHS only two substances: cadmium and lead. The PoHS Directive has now been stopped due to vehement objection of the EU.

South Korea on 27 April 2007 adopted a generally designated as Korea RoHS Act, which entered into force on 1 August 2008. The correct title is " Act for Resource of Electrical and Electronic Equipment and Vehicles". In this Act largely the EU directives RoHS, WEEE and ELV are adopted. To mark the products as in the ChinaRoHS is not provided.

Further development

In the RoHS Directive stipulates that the regulations should be reviewed periodically and adjusted to the current state of the art. Beginning with the 4th October 2007, assumed the task of Öko-Institut eV to conduct a study on the possible extension of prohibited substances. At present ( 2013) are the Fraunhofer IZM responsible for the studies for amendments to the Regulation in collaboration with the Öko-Institut in Freiburg and Eunomia in the UK.