During the reconstruction project of computer rooms in NASA in 2003, 10 server failures occurred in 2-3 months at a loss of $20k each, and 12 router failures occurred in 18 months at a loss of $5k - $1.5k each. Therefore, NASA launched the investigation for failures, discovering zinc whiskers on the samples of wire mesh cable tray. Then a research group was set up to study the hazard of zinc whiskers to the data center.
So, what is zinc whisker?
Source: Grow from electroplated metal surface under stress.
Growth Rate: About 1mm per year.
Diameter: 2-3μm
Conductive: Yes
So it's a security issue：Zinc whiskers can find their way inside equipment cabinets and attach
to the circuit board, which is easy to cause data loss, hardware failure, electrical fire and system outage.
Many Vichnet’s overseas seek alternative solution for Electro-galvanizing.
Hot Dip Galvanized：heavy pollution problems about quality, cost, environment
Powder Coated：easy to have the coating get scratched
Pre-Galvanized: exists potential corrosion risk
Stainless steel：high cost
But Vichnet finally developed nickel plating Wire Mesh Cable Tray, which makes the data room safer, more beautiful, more durable and more Eco-friendly.
In Beijing, there is a project using nickel-plated surface treatment. The project covers an area about 9,144.07㎡, with 1298 cabinets. Nickel Color wire mesh cable trays launched in 2019 were applied to the whole data center of the project The whole data center. It makes cable routing beautiful as well as avoid the hazard by zinc whiskers.
