Most of us faced unpredictable electronics fail.
Some of but not all for sure could be triggered by phenomenon described by NASA engineers long time ago.
It is phenomenon of self growing sharply ended and very thin objects out of soldered parts or parts finished by specific solder material.
As you may expect this phenomenon took place in many NASA programs buy not only there as it is very famous in the Automotive Industry.
Some weeks ago I was looking on the BOSCH equipment connector via magnifier (world looks differently than) and I have experienced the tin whiskers there. Some of them are doing shorts between connector's pins already.
The lessons learned is that connectors with hidden contacts are safer and that is why they are a must have for most of automotive connections.
Some of but not all for sure could be triggered by phenomenon described by NASA engineers long time ago.
It is phenomenon of self growing sharply ended and very thin objects out of soldered parts or parts finished by specific solder material.
As you may expect this phenomenon took place in many NASA programs buy not only there as it is very famous in the Automotive Industry.
Some weeks ago I was looking on the BOSCH equipment connector via magnifier (world looks differently than) and I have experienced the tin whiskers there. Some of them are doing shorts between connector's pins already.
The lessons learned is that connectors with hidden contacts are safer and that is why they are a must have for most of automotive connections.
NASA Goddard Tin Whisker Homepage
nepp.nasa.gov