What are zinc whiskers? What impact can they have on your electronics? What can be done to reduce their presence? Find out in Cooper B-Line’s white paper.

Excerpt:

Quite simply put they are small microscopic “whiskers” that originate from zinc-electroplated products. These zinc-plated products are commonly found in computer rooms, and specifically in the under-floor environment. Examples would be computer floor tiles, floor stanchions, cable runways, or wirebasket cable trays.

Bell Laboratories first discovered zinc whiskers in the late 1940’s on zinc plated wall brackets. These brackets supported quartz filters used in telephone transmission system. The zinc whiskers caused losses on these filters and problems with telephone transmissions.

The telecommunications/high tech industry is experiencing resurgence in zinc whisker failures. This is due to the microelectronics that are commonly found in today’s data-centers and sophisticated electronics. These tiny whiskers create havoc when they find their way into these microelectronics. The problems they create are micro-sized short circuits, voltage variances, or system resets. Effectively creating chaos in expensive and critical electronic…>>Read More