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Most complex boards will have a few parts (like plastic connectors) selectively soldered on after reflow.

True. I wonder if you could do something with IR and a mask to selectively heat the bits of the board that’d take it?

Then again, later in the slides they talk about simply giving things a scrub with a wire brush to clean off the whiskers. Apparently they don’t regrow after the first few years.

> Could the tin whisker problem be solved by simply reflowing circuit boards every 5-10 years

Apart from logistics, many components have a hard time surviving the heat of soldering during original manufacture and may fail on subsequent reflowing.

Lead free solder typically has a melting point around 35C higher than tin-lead which exacerbates the problem.

Theoretically - yes. Practically - just imagine the logistics of that.