What to do about zinc whiskers

Zinc whiskers may be a hidden and lurking contaminant in your Datacenter that is the source of many unexplained problems in your operation.

• Are your servers slower than they should be without explanation?
• Are you having data corruption issues for which you can't find a source for?
• Are you experiencing disk drive and power supply failures without apparent cause?

Download the zinc whiskers datasheet.

These common issues, among others, may be caused by harmful contaminents known as "Zinc Whiskers" — and must be handled effectively and efficiently to ensure smooth operation of your Datacenter.

What are zinc whiskers?

Zinc whiskers are small fiber-like growths that can be found on zinc-plated products. Zinc is often used as a coating on steel products to prevent rust or oxidation. In a Datacenter, steel floor tiles were often coated with zinc. Over time, the zinc plating on the steel will "grow whiskers," and when these whiskers dislodge from the tiles, they can wreck havoc on your Datacenter.

The main reason for this is that zinc is a conductive material. The zinc whiskers are basically a low capacity fuse with a DC resistance of 10-40 ohms, depending on the size of the whisker. Whiskers can reach lengths of up to 1 cm (.4 inches) and have diameters up to 2 microns. A whisker over .5mm (1/64 of an inch) that dislodges from the floor tile, and moves around the Datacenter can be a problem to electronic equipment. A zinc whisker that lands on your Datacenter equipment will cause short circuits, voltage variances, and other signal disturbances. Contamination will even cause equipment failures.

The problem is often that once the zinc whisker causes a short circuit, that same short circuit will vaporize the zinc whisker, or dislodge it, so that it floats off to some other location. This makes it almost impossible to analyze or track. Some speculate that many NTF (No trouble found) problems could be the result of these troublesome contaminants.

What can you do about zinc whiskers?

Media Recovery can help you identify, contain, and clean up these contaminants. Specially trained staff, with years of experience working in the sensitive and critical Datacenter environment, will provide you with the knowledge and resources to resolve this issue with minimal disruption to your daily operations.

To discuss your facility, and the possibility of these contaminants in your Datacenter, call Media Recovery and get the facts about what you can do to resolve this troublesome problem.

For more information, please call Media Recovery at 1-800-688-2414 today.