中国有色金属学报(英文版)
Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China
Vol. 16 No. 1 February 2006 |
microhardness of lead-free Sn-3.5%Ag solders
(College of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China)
Abstract:The microstructure and microhardness of Sn-3.5%Ag solders were explored in the cooling rate ranging from 0.08 to 104 K/s. Under rapid cooling condition, the strong kinetic undercooling effect leads to the actual solidification process starting at the temperature lower than the equilibrium eutectic point, and the actual metastable eutectic point shifts to the higher Ag concentration. Hence, the higher the applied cooling rate is, the more the volume fraction of primary β-Sn crystal forms. At the same time, the separation of primary β-Sn crystal favors restraining the formation of bulk Ag3Sn intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in solder due to the mismatch crystalline orientation relationship, those Ag3Sn phase separating through the eutectic reaction could hardly cling to the primary β-Sn crystal and grow up. Additionally, the Vickers hardness test shows that fine β-Sn and spherical Ag3Sn phase in the rapidly solidified alloy strongly improves the microhardness of the Sn-3.5%Ag solder.
Key words: lead-free solder; Sn-3.5%Ag solder; eutectic reaction; intermetallic compounds; microhardness