China RoHS: How the Changing Regulatory Landscape Is Affecting Process Equipment Reliability

Abstract

In 2006, China promulgated a law entitled “Administration on the Control of Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products.” The purpose of this law is similar to that of the European Union’s RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC, “restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment”). These regulations require the elimination of lead in electronic products and manufacturers now have to comply with RoHS if they want to continue to do business in the EU and China.

Corrosion-induced failures were frequent in industrial process control systems even before RoHS regulations with a typical failure mechanism being the reaction of atmospheric sulfur with exposed metals. Corrosion can occur quite rapidly in humid environments especially in the presence of small amounts of atmospheric sulfur and chlorides resulting in e.g., intermittent equipment malfunctions, unplanned shutdowns, or failure of critical systems.

This paper will discuss issues related to RoHS compliance, and China RoHS in particular, and the resulting potential for corrosion-related problems. Air quality and failure analysis data will be presented from several sites in China illustrating the fact that in addition to industrial environments, corrosive environments exist in locations that would otherwise be considered benign if not for the changes in electronic equipment mandated by RoHS legislation.