Megatron AG - Ferrite und Ferroxcube

Environment

Environment

Committed to environmental conservation
FERROXCUBE is committed to environmental conservation. This includes the development of 'clean' processes; the reduction of industrial waste, the elimination of hazardous substances from our products and the reductiontion of environmental impact from our packaging. All our manufacturing sites comply with or are set up to meet the ISO14001 environmental standard.

Innovations in packaging
Especially, with regard to packaging, we have made significant progress in lowering the environmental impact in recent years.

Life-cycle studies
We are prepared to participate in life cycle studies on our products to quantify the environmental burden they present, and we undertake to make data on the chemical composition of our products as well as other environmental data available to our customers.
These studies are also an essential requirement of the ISO14001 certification and improvement process to which we are fully committed.

FERROXCUBE and environmental conservations
Our actions geared towards environmental conservation can be summarized as follows:
-Avoiding hazardous materials in products
-Adopting clean process technologies and manufacturing methods
-Reducing energy consumption in production
-Reducing material usage and waste
-Adopting new product packing methods
-Improving health and safety in the workplace
-Collecting and distributing environmental product information

Megatron AG Ferroxcube Umwelt Environment

icon List of abbreviations
icon MnZn ferrite cores
icon MnZn ferite core Epoxy coated
icon MnZn ferrite cores Parylene coated
icon NiZn ferrite cores

Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & Restriction of Chemicals (REACH)

A set of existing chemical regulations has been replaced by a single new regulation, named Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation & restriction of CHemicals (REACH, 1907/2006), to improve the management of the risks of health and the environment in Europe. It requires producers and importers to register a large category of chemicals and preparations when they are put on the market in quantities exceeding one metric ton, and it also requires a demonstration that they are safe to use. This also applies to constituents of products when they are intentionally released during their normal use or when they are a substance of very high concern (SVHC). The list of SVHC has not yet been defined. REACH does not in itself forbid chemicals, but is used to update and elaborate specific restrictions. Existing restrictions remain in force. The REACH process is managed by the European CHemicals Agency (ECHA) in Helsinki, Finland and technically supported and managed by the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) in Ispra, Italy.

REACH policy statement Ferroxcube

Date of release: November '08

DOC file [28 KB]

Polymers

Important to notice is that polymers (e.g. plastics) are temporarily exempted in article 41 of the preamble :
"Specific registration requirements should be laid down for intermediate products for reasons of workability and because of their special nature. Polymers should be exempted from registration and evaluation until those that need to be registered due to the risks posed on human health or the environment can be selected in a practical and cost-efficient way on the basis of sound technical and valid scientific criteria."

Additional information

Useful links on REACH issues are :

European Commission (REACH, general information)
European Commission (REACH & GHS, enterprise information)
REACH guidance of ECHA
Guidance for downstream users

Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS)
RoHS general	Lead-free

Ferroxcube products In line with worldwide environmental legislation, FERROXCUBE has taken measures to eliminate certain heavy metals and flame retardants. The directives on Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE, 2002/96/EC), with an amendment on waste disposal financing (WEEE, 2003/108/EC) and Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS, 2002/95/EC), with an amendment on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE, 2003/11/EC), an exemption on decabromo diphenylether (DecaBDE, 2005/717/EC), the annulment of the latter by the European Court of Justice (DecaBDE, ECJ) and maximum concentration limits (RoHS, 2005/618/EC), required electronic components to be free of these substances in Europe from 1 July 2006 onwards. It concerns: lead (Pb), mercury (Hg), cadmium (Cd), hexavalent chromium (Cr VI), polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). With the programme to eliminate lead from terminals (see right column on this page), FERROXCUBE complies with the RoHS regulations, including the DecaBDE restriction. Additionally, FERROXCUBE complies with the perfluoro octane sulfonate restriction (PFOS, 2006/122/EC) which is formally an amendment of the older regulation 76/769/EEC. Some products still have a version with SnPb plating because certain market sectors and applications are exempt from RoHS regulations, e.g. equipment used in military applications. They are also maintained for customers in non-RoHS countries who don't want to switch over. Ferroxcube RoHS declaration Date of release: Febr '05 DOC file [77 KB] Outside Europe Similar legislation has been prepared in China, under the name of Regulation for Pollution Control of Electronics Products (RPCEP), to comply with RoHS and WTO regulations (entry went into force on 1 March 2007). In many cases, this will simply require compliance with RoHS. Legislation has also been prepared in other places like South Korea (entry went into force on 1 July 2007) and California (entry went into force on January 2007). Maximum concentration values Total avoidance of hazardous substances down to 0% level is in practice technically impossible because traces of these occur almost everywhere. Article 5 of the RoHS directive states that maximum concentration values (MCV) will be established. There is now a definite decision from the European Commission for these values (2005/618/EC): Date of release: August '05 PDF file [31 KB] FERROXCUBE products comply well with these values. Additional information Useful links on WEEE / RoHS issues are : European Commission (WEEE & RoHS)	Ferroxcube approach In line with worldwide lead-free legislation, FERROXCUBE has introduced lead-free plating on all of our formerly tin/lead containing products. The transition applies to accessories (coilformers for all core ranges & earth clips), wire wound cores (through hole & SMD), as well as multilayer suppressors and inductors. The directives on Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment (WEEE, 2002/96/EC) and Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS, 2002/95/EC) required electronic components to be lead-free in Europe from 1 July 2006 onwards. Comparable legislation has been prepared in other parts of the world; including China. Some products still have a version with SnPb plating because certain market sectors and applications are exempt from RoHS regulations, e.g. equipment used in military applications. They are also maintained for customers in non-RoHS countries who don't want to switch over. We have chosen pure tin as the plating standard to replace the lead/tin plating in current products. It is 100% compatible with any existing leaded soldering equipment and does not require any major changes in production methods. The top temperature for lead-free solder materials is higher than for tin/lead solder materials. Apart from the plating, the products are identical to the corresponding lead-free products. Lead-free plating offers commercial and environmental advantages without any cost implications on the prices of products supplied by FERROXCUBE Status information Accessories Single accessory items have been converted at once. Mostly, leaded and lead-free products did not exist together. Some lead-free versions got a new code number and a type of description with Z at the end, but the recent ones did not change neither code numbers nor description. The packaging mentions the lead-free status. Mostly, the label mentions: lead-free. Sometimes, there is an extra sticker (round, green border, crossed Pb symbol). Wire-wound ferrites & Multilayer inductors / suppressors Multilayers were already lead-free. Wire wound ferrites have been converted step by step. Some have a leaded and a lead-free version. The lead-free version got a new code number and a type of description with Z at the end. The label mentions : Pb Free - RoHS 2002/95/EC. Recommended soldering profiles Due to the higher melting point of lead-free solder materials like pure tin (Sn) or tin/silver/copper (SnAgCu), top temperature for soldering has to be increased when switching over from tin/lead (SnPb). A lot of study has been done on the corresponding soldering profiles. See the JEDEC proposal J-STD-020C, latest version on JEDEC and the IEC standard IEC 61760-1, latest version on IEC. We recommend the following curve for wired products, that is, our core sets + coilformers & wire wound ferrites. The highest temperature of 260°C applies to wire wound ferrites and small accessories; 245°C applies to larger accessories. We recommend the following curve for metallized products for multilayer inductors/suppressors. These have a shorter profile to prevent leaching of the terminals.