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Recommended best practices for performing a risk assessment after tin whiskers have been observed on fielded or flight hardware. It will include recommended methods for characterizing the whiskers, determining electrical impact, and estimating the risk.

This document is intended for use as technical guidance by Aerospace system suppliers, e.g., Aerospace system Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Aerospace system maintenance facilities, in developing and implementing designs and processes to assure the continued performance, quality, reliability, safety, airworthiness, configuration control, affordability, maintainability, and supportability of high performance aerospace systems (subsequently referred to as AHP) both during and after the transition to Pb-Free electronics. This document is intended for application to aerospace products; however, it may also be applied, at the discretion of the user, to other products with similar characteristics, e.g., low-volume, rugged use environments, high reliability, long lifetime, and reparability. If other industries wish to use this document, they may substitute the name of their industry for the word "Aerospace" in this document.

This document defines: (1) A default method for those companies that require a pre-defined approach and (2) A protocol for those companies that wish to develop their own test methods.

The default method is intended for use by electronic equipment manufacturers, repair facilities, or programs which, for a variety of reasons, may be unable to develop methods specific to their own products and applications. It is to be used when little or no other information is available to define, conduct, and interpret results from reliability, qualification, or other tests for electronic equipment containing Pb-free solder. The default method is intended to be conservative, i.e., it is biased toward minimizing the risk to users of AHP electronic equipment.

This technical report identifies the requirements for an LFCP for ADHP soldered electronic products built fully or partially with Pb-free materials and assembly processes. An LFCP documents the specific Pb-free materials and assembly processes used to assure customers their ADHP soldered electronic products will meet the applicable reliability requirements of the customer. This standard specifically addresses LFCPs for: a Pb-free components and mixed assembly: Products originally designed and qualified with SnPb solder and assembly processes that incorporate components with Pb-free termination finishes and/or Pb-free BGAs, i.e., assembling Pb-free parts using eutectic/near-eutectic SnPb processes (also known as mixed metallurgy). b COTS products: COTS products likely built with Pb-free materials and assembly processes. c Pb-free design and assembly: Products designed and qualified with Pb-free solder and assembly processes.

This Standard establishes processes for documenting the mitigating steps taken to reduce the harmful effects of Pb-free tin finishes in electronic systems. This Standard is applicable to Aerospace, Defense, and High Performance (ADHP) electronic applications which procure equipment that may contain Pb-free tin finishes.