Storage Conditions and Shelf Life

Storage Conditions and Shelf Life

The shelf life of any IHI product is only a guideline and is dependent on the customer’s application, storage, and handling conditions.

To maximize shelf life, IHI components should be stored in a clean, dry, well ventilated, indoor warehouse with no water or condensation. They should be on elevated, well aired shelving. They should never be stored on the concrete floor or other floor surfaces, and never in direct sunlight or sustained, elevated room temperatures. No refrigeration is required; however, air conditioning may be needed if indoor conditions are excessively humid.

With proper storage conditions, the shelf life of IHI components is 1 year after sale. Neither IHI nor Advancement is giving a warranty for parts for long storage, so the guidelines above and below are not a guarantee of any fixed length of storage time.

Solderable Parts

Solderability of solderable parts can be affected by tarnish, dust, dirt, and corrosive materials. Parts should be checked by the customer after any length of storage to determine the solderability of the component.

Guidelines for solderability testing can be found on the Soldering Recommendations for IHI Aluminum Sn/Ni Plated Terminal Lugs page 2. IHI has seen solderable parts still solder satisfactorily after 6 years of shelf storage, but this is not in any way a prediction of a customer’s storage life.

IHI will reject all warranty claims caused by poor application design, inadequate failure mode analysis, inadequate customer testing and inadequate process controls to maintain integrity, and inadequate quality control to eliminate suspect SMT joints. If the joint fails in any way – the implementation was inadequate. In short all, (all) aspects of the connection integrity of the terminal to the PCB are the customer’s responsibility to confirm before using.

Non Solderable Parts

Non solderable parts should be usable indefinitely, even if there is some tarnish, which tin is known to do. Tarnish does not affect conductivity. Cosmetic or visual features like yellow tarnish, white oxides, shelf dust, and dirt, are beyond IHI and Advancement control after the part is sold, but generally will not stop the part from functioning.

Once properly installed and fully tightened the contact surfaces are gas tight which preserves the low contact resistance.