Free Soldering – Why?
The simplest explanation for the tremendous interest in lead-free soldering is FEAR: Fear of Legislation, Fear of Trade Barriers, and Fear of Competition. Most companies do not necessarily want to change to lead-free, but rather are motivated by a combination of these three fears. The WEEE/RoHS directives in Europe and similar mandates in Japan have instilled fear that a legislative body will prohibit the use of lead in electronics soldering. If a particular country disallows lead in electronics, a trade barrier is created between that country and anyone not capable of providing lead-free electronics solutions. Of course, this also could take place between individual companies. Some companies already are producing electronics products with lead-free solder alloys and marketing them as such. This has led to fears of being caught behind commercially.
