Sustainable Electronics: Lessons Learned from the RoHS and the Pb-free Transition

Abstract

Carol Handworker - Reinhardt Schuhmann Jr. Professor of Materials Engineering, Purdue University.

With the impending ban on Pb in electronics in 2006, the consumer electronics industry world-wide began working together in the late '90's to define a standard Pb-free solder alloy for electronics manufacturing. The speed of the transition and the level of cooperation demonstrated in preparing industry to manufacture products with Pb-free solder provide benchmarks for sustainability-driven technology transitions in a rapidly changing global industry. What does this tell us about future changes in materials and processes as we learn more about the consequences of our electronics use?