"mc" wrote in message
.. .
I want to know what, exactly, changes, and how it affects
reliability (I don't give a flying poof-ball about traceability as long
as the solder holds). I also want to know how these alleged changes will
affect the stuff in terms of making simple repairs with (mostly) PLCC's
and QFP's.

Well, then you go elsewhere to determine that (the manufacturer of the
paste seems so dreadfully obvious). Or, you just try the stuff and see
what results you obtain and see how many failures occur that haunt you
later.

Geez ... this is a repair group. "What, exactly, changes, reliability"
... you are expecting too much.

Pardon me for asking a question in a newsgroup, then!

I got a remarkable cascade of "you shouldn't expect us to know" and only
one helpful answer.

I assumed the people in a repair newsgroup would have experience using
paste solder and might be able to tell me about their experiences with it.
Or if they didn't, they wouldn't reply.



Now now, there's no need to get arsey. I think that you got a number of
reasonable replies amongst them all, not the least of which being, from
several of us, "ask the manufacturer". It's hardly rocket science is it ?
Those of us who use the stuff in our everyday work don't let it get out of
date, so we don't have any direct experience of what goes wrong with it. The
guesses about the flux going bad or maybe the carrier, seem reasonable, but
they are just that - guesses. Probably, nothing much happens. If you keep a
packet of cornflakes past their 'sell by' or 'best by' date, without opening
them, they will probably be ok a year later. If you have opened them, they
won't be. Probably the same with the solder paste, but if you are going to
be using it professionally, do you want to risk it ? Could cause you all
sorts of problems down the line, so I say again, ask the manufacturer, then
you will know for sure, and you can tell the rest of us. If you don't feel
confident enough to talk to them by 'phone, I'm sure that they will have an
e-mail that will reach their technical people ...

Arfa