re silver solder andy shiekh shiekh ictp trieste it wrote i have seen the existance of electronics solder with a silver content that seems to have good wetting and fatique reatings can anyone tell me why it is not used silver is not such an expensive metal andy for the most part silver solder is not used for general soldering tasks due to the mechanism of dendritic growth silver solder when exposed to high humidity and placed in an electric field will actually grow dendrites which are conductive and will adventually electrically short across closely spaced nodes which are creating the field for this reason silver is allowed only in hermetically sealed assemblies fortunatly tin lead solder is quite stable and will not grow dendrites as fast as silver solder therefore it is used extensively jerry long long spk hp com disclaimer opinions are my own and do not reflect those of my employer
