Clariant, a chemical specialist has introduced humidity indicator cards to better ensure the integrity of dry packing, protecting moisture-sensitive devices from high humidity during shipment or storage.
Developed by Clariant's Cargo and Device Protection unit, the new Humitector Type 2 non-reversible humidity indicator cards are low-halogen and free of cobalt dichloride, a substance of concern to the European Chemical Bureau.
“Clariant developed Humitector type 2 non-reversible humidity indicator cards because surface-mount suppliers and device manufacturers said that they wanted greater assurance in the integrity of dry packs for moisture-sensitive devices,” said Michelle Martin, head of Clariant Cargo & Device Protection, North America.
“The 60% non-reversible indicator on these new cards makes it easy to see if the package contents have been exposed to high levels of moisture for a prolonged period of time.”
The new Humitector cards are the only low-halogen cobalt dichloride-free humidity indicator cards to combine multiple, reversible colour humidity indicators with a patent-pending, non-reversible 60% humidity indicator.
Clariant said the cards provide verifiable colour change accuracy and meet or exceed applicable European Chemical Bureau regulations. The new cards have been approved for use by the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) in the latest revisions to IPC/JEDEC J-STD-033 (J-STD-033D) – the dry packing standard for surface mount devices.
Until now, users of moisture-sensitive, reflowable surface mount devices have had little choice in the humidity indicator cards required for use in protective packages governed by the J-STD-033 standard.
Typical cards only offer reversible indicators that reflect current conditions. If package contents, including the card, are exposed to damaging humidity but then returned to a dry environment before the card is checked, the exposure could go unnoticed as the card reverses back to a dry reading. As a result, surface mounts could enter production even though they may have been compromised by moisture.