Do you have any idea why our tags cease to work when we check that they are in place prior to shipping parts?
—John
———
John,
If a tag has been applied properly and read successfully, there is very little that would cause it to stop working. There are a few issues that companies have run into, however.
One thing that could damage a tag is high heat, which can melt the solder connecting the antenna to the chip. Solder typically melts at 183 degrees Celsius (361 degrees Fahrenheit). If your transponders are subject to higher temperatures, you would need special tags designed to withstand higher temperatures. (Extreme cold is not usually an issue.)
If tags are placed on products that bang into one another during shipping, the chip in the transponder could become crushed, rendering the tag inoperable. If a tag is placed on a flexible product, causing it to bend to the point that its antenna separates from the chip, the tag will stop functioning. And if it becomes subject to moisture, or if the product to which it is attached becomes wet, the water could detune the tag and absorb RF energy, both of which could make it difficult to read the tag.
—Mark Roberti, Founder and Editor, RFID Journal
