RoHS Products Containing Cadmium or Lead

Products that Contain Restricted Substances

MWS inventories solder plated wire of various types. All solder plating is tin-lead alloy containing 5% to 40% lead.
Cadmium plated copper conforms to MS20995 (Wire, Safety or Lock).
Cadmium copper alloy wire is CDA 16200 containing 99% copper and 1% cadmium.
Copper-chromium-cadmium alloy wire is CDA 18135 containing 0.4% cadmium.

Key Word Identifiers


Depending how the product is ordered by the customer purchasing department, products containing lead or cadmium may be identified by key words on the MWS packing slip, certification and invoice.

Key words for products containing cadmium: Cadmium, cadmium plated, cadmium copper

Key words for products containing lead: solder plated, tin/lead

Specification Identifiers


Products containing lead or cadmium may be ordered to relevant specifications: MS20995, QQW343, Mil-Std-1276, CDA alloy 16200 and CDA alloy 18135. For example:
  • MS20995CY20 is the specification for .020" diameter cadmium plated copper wire. CY is the indicator that the wire is cadmium plated copper.
  • QQW343 is an obsolete specification but is occasionally used to specify tin-lead solder plating. In the following example, QQW343H24S1A, the plating code letter 'A' at the end specifies tin-lead solder plating.
  • Mil-Std-1276 may specify solder plating over a variety of copper, nickel and alloy wires. Tin-lead solder plating is indicated by the following numbers: 32, 34, 41, 43, 45, 46, 51 and 52. In a typical designation for a product using this specification, the plating finish code number will be located in the position underlined in bold print in this example: Mil-Std-1276 LW.020 F-32-N.
  • MWS inventories copper alloys containing cadmium that are identified as CDA 16200 and CDA 18135. They are sometimes abbreviated as CDA 162 and Alloy 135.


RoHS Non-compliance Statement


The following statement is printed on the packing slip, certification and invoice for products containing cadmium or lead in homogenous materials that exceed RoHS threshold levels:


"This item contains lead or cadmium which is restricted by the European Union effective 2006."


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