#rohscompliancetesting

RoHS stands for Reduction of Hazardous Substances and is an EU directive that prevents the use of certain substances in electronic products. It essentially directs to not keep certain chemicals in the product. The directive is popularly known as the “Lead Directive” among the engineers but in reality its not bound only with the lead but has rules for certain other chemicals as well.

The list of chemicals on which this regulation works are as follows:

Lead (Pb)

Mercury (Hg)

Cadmium (Cd)

Hexavalent Chromium (Cr6+)

Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB)

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE)

Bis(2-Ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP)

Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP)

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP)

Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP)

All follow the limitation of a maximum of 0.1%

The directive has been taken to be much more than only Lead Directive as for some electronic industries the product without Lead stays to be RoHS Complaint in nature. However, not all chemicals in the list are RoHS Complaint in nature.

LDR or Light Dependent Resistor that we often use in our projects is one of those simple components that are not RoHS compliant. As we all know, the functionality of LDR to be triggering certain function on detection of light, it uses Cadmium Sulphide(CdS) in it. Cadmium Sulphide although falls in the RoHS list but is excepted due to some military or medical grounds and thus has been introduced in the commercial products.

These sets of rules greatly affect the manufacturing companies of electronic goods as these rules have direct connections to customer rights and market values. When an electronic manufacturing company starts, it first meets the need of the market and manufactures a product according to it. It then selects a small target market and maps the success and demand rate of the product. Now as it aims for the bigger market, the legislation intervenes and these rules come to be addressed to. These products are generally small electronic components that are used in other bigger electronic systems.

Thus, the main problem arrives for the companies, when the product such as LDR does not have any such immediate alternative that can be manufactured. The work becomes all the more difficult for the one designing the electronic system using the following component as they now have to design a full circuit satisfying the Ross rules to validate that particular functionality.

For example, in place of LDR, the photodiode can be used as reverse biased along with a resistor. Even after this method, the alternate circuit made in place of the product often turns out to be not as effective as the product itself. It also hampers the manufacturing process, as well as more time and work, is invested in that.

After the Ross complaint filter is passed, the product goes through another set of filtering before getting launched in the market. This set of filtering rules is termed to be as REACH which stands for Registration Evaluation Authorization and restriction of Chemicals. REACH has a list of around 200 chemicals that it restricts from being used in the product. This rule is strictly issued on companies that transact over 1 tonne of chemicals per year for their work. This list of chemicals is termed as SVHC that is, Substance of Very High Concern.

The stage of distributors strictly follows the rule of REACH and thus even after passing the Ross restrictions, the product may get stopped by these sets of rules. These sets of chemicals are a concern that needs to look after as even if these chemicals do not seem to be harmful on the first go, but are seen to be turning toxic and harmful under recycling. Thus, the rules of REACH are the ones that need to be followed as well.

Electronic systems formed concerning the food industry strictly need to follow these rules as they are the ones that are directly connected to the health concerns of the customers and as well do not have proper medical supervision in the industry.

Proper documentation is provided once the product or component satisfies all these requirements and thus it officially becomes usable for commercial purposes. This documentation or certification is important, as they can be asked for in any level of survey and even by the customer. The company in that case always stays liable to provide the certification under public interest.

The testing of chemicals while manufacturing the product is also an important measure that needs to be followed. Companies guiding in this matter of testing procedures are already present and one can consult them for the need.

It is better to be always dealing with the rules. Saving a few amounts of money while initializing the manufacturing house by avoiding these rules can cost the whole product after getting launched in the market. Being cheap is not always helpful for the production process in the long run.

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We all care about our environment but why only concentrate on plastic or other regular elements? Do you know how hazardous electronics can be? Electronics can be equally harmful to the environment as plastic because they are manufactured using various chemicals and metals. So, how can we control the impacts of electronic products on the environment? Thanks to RoHS which took the initiative and responsibility of making companies produce environmentally friendly products worldwide.

What is RoHS?

RoHS, or Restriction of Hazardous Substances, as the name suggests, is an act that steps forward to restrict the usage of harmful elements and making an impact on the entire electronics industry along with many electrical goods. The act was initiated by the European Union in the year 2002 where it was first named Directive 2002/95/EC. Further, the main aim of this act is to stop the usage of six detrimental elements in the production of electronic products. Thus, since 2006 July, every relevant product being produced in the European market has to clear the RoHS compliance test.

Later, in 2011, a revised version of RoHS was published by the EU and it is known as RoHS- Recast (or RoHS 2). With this, RoHS compliance required to have CE marking directive. Moreover, RoHS 2 added categories 8 & 9 with more record-keeping requirements.

In 2015,  EU published directive 2015/863 which was titled as RoHS 3. It extended the requirements by adding four more elements to it making it 10 restricted substances in total. The list is as follows:

Lead (Pb): < 1000 ppm

Mercury (Hg): < 100 ppm

Cadmium (Cd): < 100 ppm

Hexavalent Chromium: (Cr VI) < 1000 ppm

Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB): < 1000 ppm

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDE): < 1000 ppm

Bis(2-Ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP): < 1000 ppm

Benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP): < 1000 ppm

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP): < 1000 ppm

Diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP): < 1000 ppm

What was the need to introduce such an act?

In the early 20th century, few chemicals were introduced in the production process due to their excellent properties, like radium luminescence and low melting point, which were seen as extremely useful. Nonetheless, what people of that tie did not know was the harm it is going to create in their lives. This resulted in the wastage of years to understand their detrimental impacts on both people as well as the environment. Thus, in 2002, when authorities across the world were searching for a safe measure, the EU introduced legislation in order to reduce the employment of such harmful substances.

Why is RoHS Compliance important?

Many people believe that there is no immediate impact of the substances listed above. But the truth is, and what experts believe is, that as soon as you are in physical contact with any of these substances, you are taking a risk. This is so because there is no direct negative impact of such substances but their long term exposure is dangerous.

When these substances are used in the manufacturing or recycling processes, they affect negatively as a matter of occupational exposure. Also, when such elements are disposed of after usage, they turn out to be the pollutants for the landfills and, thus, the environment.

The most threatening ones, which are lead, cadmium, mercury, and most brominated plastics, that has more negative impacts than the others. Therefore, even if it is a challenge, every manufacture should embrace it for its and the coming generation’s own good.

Wrapping up

Even if it is costly to manufacture products under RoHS compliance, it is still a necessity, especially if you are going to sell it in the EU market. So, be safe and make the environment safer by following such helpful guidelines.