Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/611691
THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL | 23 www.datacenterjournal.com Green-Guard™ The first-ever coating scientifically designed to capture zinc whiskers in Data Centers The Green-Guard coating is a waterborne product, applied the same way as latex paint. It is mildew-resistant. Coverage is about 100-250 square feet/gallon for a 2-5 mil dry-film-thickness. For more information, contact Steve Smith sales@smithandcompany.org What's in your Data Center? Get Increasing electrical failures? Increasing down-time? Zinc whiskers? thousands or millions of such replaceable circuit cards are handling information whose reliable flow is necessary to keep a busy civilization humming. How do you know whether you have zinc whiskers in your data center? You could just run your finger over the floor-tile underside or the galvanized-steel parts below. If you find yourself saying "ouch" or some more colorful word, and you feel a sharp pain in your finger, then you have just found a zinc whisker. How many zinc whiskers might you find if you do have them? Millions, on the basis of some NASA investigations of floor tiles. Whiskers are sharp, pointy things, and while some are curly, some are dagger straight. You may need a magnifier to see them, since they are so thin. But you don't have to see them to feel them stick you; the straight ones will get you every time. A more conservative method of whisker detection is to shine a strong LED flashlight on the surface, from the side, moving the angle around. Seeing a forest of sparkling points of light means you are looking at a field of zinc whiskers. Magni- fication will make them clearer, allowing you to appreciate the threat safely. No good solution to containing the zinc whiskers and preventing the resulting electrical failures has emerged owing to the absence of a paint or coating that could encapsulate them. e whiskers have just grown through these materials because the physics of failure for these coatings was entirely unknown, and the people working in the field lacked the scientific back- ground to understand the problem. Now that the science is known, applications that implement technology are arriving. As with any new science, the applications are limited only by imagina- tion. n about the authors: Bill rollins is a retired aerospace reliability engineer and an industry subject-matter expert on metal whiskers. He received the Defense Manufacturing Excellence Award for 2010 from the Aerospace Industries Association. Steve Smith is chief chemist at Smith & Co. He has licensed the use of whisker-containing technology for data center applications. He can be reached at sales@smithandcompany.org.