New IPC HDBK 830 offers guidance for Conformal Coatings

Your products use electronic components and you need to make sure they’re reliable.  You’ll be using coatings on these parts, protection for your printed circuit assemblies (PCA’s).  How to determine what coating will work best?  Most likely you’re going to turn to IPC CC 830, “Qualification and Performance of Electrical Insulating Compound for Printed Wiring Assemblies.”  And now the Handbook for that standard, the IPC HDBK 830, has been updated.

The new IPC HDBK 830 Revision A, “Guidelines for Design, Selection, and Application of Conformal Coatings,” is the companion document for the IPC CC 830.  It was written to provide designers and users of these coatings with information about coating types available and the factors that can affect them when in use.  Further, since PCA’s with these coatings are often subject to review by testing labs for product acceptance purposes, you’ll want to understand what each coating can and cannot do for you.  The handbook addresses these issues.

Why do we use these coatings?  Because the components are small and subject to damage, a conformal coating can protect these parts from the environment.  Hazards include humidity, contamination, corrosion, vibration, fatigue, and arcing.  But remember, conformal coatings are for protection, not for structural support.

The IPC CC 830 standard defines the types of conformal coatings based on the cured chemistry of the coating itself.  Then it reviews the requirements that these types of coatings will meet and the quality conformance expected.  Tests are performed on “test vehicles” rather than the units themselves.  There is a bias to consolidation of these tests to minimize redundancy.  Please be sure that you’re using the Revision B with the Amendment 1 in order to meet the latest requirements on the standard.

The new Handbook Revision A has been issued to include the latest environmental, health and safety information, so critical to this industry.  It also includes advice on the use of internet-based reporting for MSDS.  Flammability issues are updated, and fungus and tin whisker prevention are addressed as well.

The history of standardization of conformal coating goes back to the 1960’s.   The protective layer placed on printed circuit boards and their components was first tackled by the Department of Defense.  MIL-I-46058, “Insulating Compound, Electrical (for Coating Printed Circuit Assemblies),” remains current to this day.  If you do work for the military, you’ll use Revision C from 1972 with Amendment 7.  And it was recently validated (2/25/2013).  There’s also an IEC 61086 series on this topic, IEC 61086-1, IEC 61086-2, and IEC 61086-3-1.  However, they’re not used as much as the IPC CC 830 standard.

If you’re in the electronics business, you’ll want to purchase your copies of any IPC standards you need from Document Center Inc.  You can purchase them in paper or CD Rom format.  But remember, the CD Rom’s have the printing function disabled so you’ll only be able to use them on the computer.

You can buy these documents at our web store, www.document-center.com.  Or contact us by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com).  We stand out from the competition because we can provide you with information on the documents before you make your purchase.  And we support your need for a compliant standards collection with superior monitoring, notification, and reporting products.  Make Document Center your Standards Experts!

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Claudia Bach

Claudia Bach is the President of Document Center Inc. and a world-wide recognized expert on Standards and Standards Distribution. You can connect with her on Google+

2 thoughts on “New IPC HDBK 830 offers guidance for Conformal Coatings”

  1. Hello, Team

    Please let me know how much is the cost for the Handbook of the IPC HDBK 830 and also let me know if you have a Spanish edition.

    Thank you.

    Eduardo

  2. Hi Eduardo:
    Thanks so much for asking.

    IPC HDBK 830, Guidelines for Design, Selection, and Application of Conformal Coatings, is currently Revision A and available in English format only. Prices vary depending on what format you’re purchasing. For paper, the cost is $141.00, for CD Rom or pdf format, the cost is $152.00, and for a kit with both paper and pdf copies, the price is $206.00. Contact our staff at info@document-center.com to place your order. We’re an authorized distributor of the IPC standards!

    Regards,
    Claudia

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