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“We were analysing a gold-plated connector and we found lead,” said Leigh Holloway of RoHS and WEEE Directive compliance firm ECO3.
The lead was not in the gold plating, but under it. “The only way to find the lead was to dissolve the component leg,” said Leigh.
Holloway was speaking at a RoHS and WEEE compliance meeting arranged by Farnell InOne to share industry knowledge.
Donal Horgan, plating expert at Molex – which did not make the connector in question – was also at the meeting.
“Nickel sulphomate is almost an industry standard for plating, and there is no lead in it at all,” he said. “And lead at more than 5ppm is a poison in gold.”
Horgan’s best guess was that the lead was in or on the brass core of the contacts.
Running lead-inclusive and lead-free materials through the same machinery can result in cross-contamination, said Matt Wilhite, also of Molex: “The best way to [make lead-free components] is to get lead out of the factory completely.”
Polymer extrusions are another possible problem. “One batch could have cadmium [deliberately] and the next could get it diffused in [from production equipment],” said Horgan.
