Dear Steyr (though you were from Austria hehe, nice gun btw.),
sorry I am using this term IT pins and I may be the onyl one who does. It is just because IT industry is different from mil. or industrial electronics.
We all want the latest computer and we want it cheap!
That is why those friendly people over there in Taiwan and China, who mainly design and produce these products are striving for cost reductions day an night.
As a result, the gold platings on IT hardware has been reduced to a minimum, if any over the times. It all adds up. And the big driver is the price.
Which is different if you think of airplanes, medical device or expensive industrial machines. There reliability is the utmost factor, quantities are low.
That is why you are more likely to have thick platings on f.i. military electronics than on IT hardware, toys or household goods. Pins from IT procducts are usually very low in PM content, that´s why I like to call them "IT Pins", because someone may read this thread and think that these low numbers are the same for all types of contacts.
As for the XRF - I am not expert on that. I know a lab that does the testings for me - sometimes
Two things are to consider. The button should be homogenous, so all material is all over it and not just in one spot. Then some metals such as palladium have a high melting point (1700°C). So they may not alloy if you melt them at 1060°C which is good enough for gold. If they dont alloy, they may not be visible to the XRF, because they dont mix with the rest of the material. That is my theory. The experts here may be able to clearify what a good probe needs to be made of to return appropriate results.
Marcel
sorry I am using this term IT pins and I may be the onyl one who does. It is just because IT industry is different from mil. or industrial electronics.
We all want the latest computer and we want it cheap!
That is why those friendly people over there in Taiwan and China, who mainly design and produce these products are striving for cost reductions day an night.
As a result, the gold platings on IT hardware has been reduced to a minimum, if any over the times. It all adds up. And the big driver is the price.
Which is different if you think of airplanes, medical device or expensive industrial machines. There reliability is the utmost factor, quantities are low.
That is why you are more likely to have thick platings on f.i. military electronics than on IT hardware, toys or household goods. Pins from IT procducts are usually very low in PM content, that´s why I like to call them "IT Pins", because someone may read this thread and think that these low numbers are the same for all types of contacts.
As for the XRF - I am not expert on that. I know a lab that does the testings for me - sometimes
Two things are to consider. The button should be homogenous, so all material is all over it and not just in one spot. Then some metals such as palladium have a high melting point (1700°C). So they may not alloy if you melt them at 1060°C which is good enough for gold. If they dont alloy, they may not be visible to the XRF, because they dont mix with the rest of the material. That is my theory. The experts here may be able to clearify what a good probe needs to be made of to return appropriate results.
Marcel
