REACH directive compliant conductor (SVHC-free)

[dominik]

Hi, I’m from the automotive and my company is an OEM obliged to comply with the EU’s environmental directive called REACH. Long story short, as a result the voltera’s conductor is banned because it contains a solvent called N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone. I’m totally not into chemistry, so maybe there is someone here who could shed a light on a purpose of usage of this particular substance and how likely it is to replace it with another?
All the best
Dominik

[mewertow]

Hi @dominik,

N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) is a solvent typically used in plastics, petroleum, and pharmaceutical products, thanks to its compatibility with a wide range of materials and its very low volatility (meaning it doesn’t tend to evaporate).

Conductive ink formulations can contain a wide variety of solvents, but changing one out does take significant amount of testing and quality checks to ensure that other properties (curing, conductivity, adhesion, rheology) are not adversely affected. We are working with other conductive ink formulations that don’t contain NMP, but have different properties - however, if we do find something that works well in similar conditions without NMP, we’ll make sure to make an announcement.

The flex conductive ink on our store doesn’t contain NMP or any REACH-restricted substances. However, it shows poorer adhesion after soldering relative to our standard conductive ink, which means that you’ll need to use an adhesive (like a quick-dry epoxy) to secure components after soldering.

• Matt

[dominik]

Thanks a million Matt. I’ll give a flex foil conductor a try just to see how it fits our needs.
In our case it’s just for bench tests and the PCB is not expected to be exposed to any vibrations, shakes etc.
Also I’m glad to hear that there’s work in progress regarding a conforming solution.