Does Soldering Iron Soldering Harm People?
In fact, this also depends on the work with a soldering iron soldering leaded solder wire or lead-free, and the need for regular checks of blood lead, not exceeding the standard will not be a problem at all, solder toxic? Normally speaking, if in accordance with national standards for protection and procurement of raw materials, solder will not cause significant harm. Nowadays, we basically use lead-free products.
Lead is a toxic substance, the human body absorbs too much will cause lead poisoning, intake of low doses may have an impact on human intelligence, nervous system and reproductive system. The alloy of tin and lead, which is commonly used as solder, has good electrical conductivity of the metal and a low melting point, so it has long been used in the soldering process. Its toxicity comes mainly from lead. Lead fumes from soldering can easily lead to lead poisoning.
Lead metal may produce lead compounds, all of which are classified as hazardous substances, and in humans lead affects the central nervous system and the kidneys. The environmental toxicity of lead to a number of organisms is well established. Blood lead concentrations of 10 μg/dl or more produce sensitive biochemical effects, and prolonged exposure that results in blood lead concentrations of more than 60 to 70 μg/dl can cause clinical lead poisoning.
Lead is certainly toxic, not to mention his big or not, is the general metal, more will be poisoned, soldering, there will be smoke, which contains a harmful element to the body. When working, it is best to wear a mask, but more or less will still have a little impact, of course, if you can use lead-free solder wire, will be much safer than lead.
Is lead-free solder toxic?
Soldering iron soldering material solder wire, it is the main ingredient is tin, but also contains other metals. Mainly divided into leaded and lead-free (i.e., environmentally friendly). With the introduction of the EU ROHS standard, now more and more PCB soldering factories choose the lead-free environmentally friendly, leaded solder wire is also slowly being replaced, not environmentally friendly out of the mouth. Lead-free solder paste, lead-free solder wire, lead-free solder bars are the main products on the market.
Simply put: the harmful general use of solder because of the low melting point, containing lead 60%, containing about 40% tin, so the solder itself is toxic. And most of the solder on the market are hollow, filled with rosin, so the gas you said, it is estimated that the welding of rosin melting inside the solder volatile out. Rosin volatile gas is also some slightly toxic, this gas is quite unpleasant. Solder in the welding of the main hazardous factors is lead smoke, even lead-free solder, which contains more or less a certain amount of lead. Lead fume in GBZ2-2002 in the limit value is very low, very toxic, need to focus on protection. Due to the damage of the welding process on the human body and the environment, in Europe, the protection of welding workers and the protection of the environment has been enforced in the form of legislation, in the absence of how to protect the conditions of welding is not allowed. In the ISO14000 standard on the production process of pollution generated by the treatment and protection of clear provisions.
Tin contains lead, lead in the previous solder wire soldering classified as occupational hazards (in the National Occupational Disease Catalogue); now we generally use lead-free solder wire, the main component is tin, the CDC measured tin dioxide; and not in the National Occupational Disease Catalogue. Lead-free process (leadfree) generally speaking, lead smoke is not excessive, but there are other hazards of solder, such as flux (rosin-like substances) have a certain degree of harm, depending on the specific circumstances to see. Employees can usually look at the distribution of the tin is what is marked down, which belongs to which category, so that there can be evidence and require companies to rectify (you can give advice to the factory's internal trade unions). If the tin dispensed is leaded, it is definitely harmful to the body. Over time, they accumulate in the body, the nervous system immune damage.
Lead-free solder wire is environmentally friendly, but lead-free solder wire is also harmful to the human body. The low lead content of lead-free solder wire does not mean that it does not contain lead, and compared with lead-containing solder wire, lead-free solder wire is less polluting to the environment and the human body than lead-containing ones. The gas produced when soldering is toxic, with rosin oil, zinc chloride and other gaseous vapours produced.
