Data Center Technologies, Inc.

Zinc Whisker Remediation

Are you updating, moving, or reorganizing equipment in your computer room? Data Center Technologies specializes in the eradication of dangerous zinc whiskers in your facility!

Why do I need this service?

Zinc whiskers have been responsible for increased system failure rates in computer server rooms. Zinc whiskers grow from galvanized (electroplated) metal surfaces at a rate of up to 1 mm per year with a diameter of a few micrometers. Whiskers can form on the underside of zinc electroplated floor tiles on raised floors due to stresses applied when walking over them. These whiskers can then become airborne within the floor plenum when the tiles are disturbed, usually during maintenance. Whiskers can be small enough to pass through air filters and can settle inside equipment, resulting in short circuits and system failure.

A recent experience of a major financial institution showed that zinc whiskers compromised the health and reliability of their data center.

The problem was traced to small metallic particles of zinc being deposited in the computer systems. The source of the zinc was the galvanized coating on the underside of the raised floor tiles. Examination found that zinc whiskers were present and were being carried in the airflow from the pressurized under floor plenum into the intake vents of the equipment.

Metal whiskering is a crystalline metallurgical phenomenon involving the spontaneous growth of tiny, filiform hairs from a metallic surface. The effect is primarily seen on elemental metals but also occurs with alloys.

The mechanism behind metal whisker growth is not well understood, but seems to be encouraged by compressive mechanical stresses including:

residual stresses caused by electroplating,
mechanically induced stresses,
stresses induced by diffusion of different metals, and thermally induced stresses.

Whiskers can cause short circuits and arcing in electrical equipment. The phenomenon was discovered by telephone companies in the late 1940s and it was later found that the addition of lead to tin solder provided mitigation. Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electronic equipment is driving the development of replacement alloys for pure tin and tin/lead alloys that resist whisker growth. Others have focused on the development of oxygen-barrier coatings to prevent whisker formation.