Electrical Engineering

I have had my soldering iron tips degrading at ridiculous rates. Granted, they are not very expensive, but sometimes it takes less than 8 hours of soldering for them to degrade to the point where they are no longer usable. I use a soft sponge for cleaning, don't leave the iron on for prolonged times and coat it with tin when not using it.

I see that the market is moving to lead-free solder (which is what I am using) and it is getting more difficult to acquire leaded solder. Yes, I have read that there are no real advantages of lead-free solder over leaded solder, except for reducing the waste that goes into the landmass.

However, assuming there are children and pets in the house, it would make sense to not have a spool of lead laying around. Naturally, it should be put away, but nobody is perfect, and you may forget etc.

Hence the question: Are there certain types of lead-free solder to look for, that are easy on the soldering iron tips? If so, are there particular chemical compounds that allow this?

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Is there a particular type of lead-free solder that does not degrade soldering tips?

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