Ruggedness and reliability of lead free electronics

Little is understood about the behavior of new lead-free solders in harsh mechanical environments (shock and vibration). There is an interest in scientific understanding of the impact of lead-free electronics and an interest in mitigating lead-free reliability risks. Reliability under harsh environments has two primary needs - 1) ability to ruggedize the product for the expected environment and 2) ability to effectively screen to prevent production flawed parts from being shipped.