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Effect of Ni Addition to Sn0.7Cu Solder Alloy on Thermal Behavior, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties

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Abstract

The addition of Ni on lead-free solder alloys Sn0.7Cu was tested in this study. A small amount of Ni was added to the solder alloys to evaluate the thermal behavior, microstructure, and mechanical properties of the composite solders after sintering and isothermal aging for 3 days and then compared with the results of the binary Sn0.7Cu solder. The results indicated that the ultimate tensile strength and yield tensile strength changed when adding 0.25 wt.% of Ni. The tested results of the differential scanning calorimeter showed that the addition of Ni (such as 0.5 and 1 wt.%) could obviously increase the solidification temperature of Sn0.7Cu alloys in the cooling process. When the Ni content was increased to 0.25 wt.% in the ternary condition, which includes the Sn0.7Cu-xNi (x = 0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, and 1 wt.%) solder alloys for the indentation creep test, the minimum creep rate reached the maximum; however, the trend was reversed as the Ni content was higher than this level. In addition, the microstructure of Sn-0.7Cu-xNi solder alloys was obviously different with the eutectic Sn-0.7Cu solder, such that the Ni gradually accumulated in the (Cu, Ni)6Sn5 IMCs within the Ni-containing solder alloys. Additionally, this process refined the microstructure of the Sn-0.7Cu solder. The fracture surface of the eutectic Sn-0.7Cu solder revealed ductile fracture modes; however, there was no mixed ductile–brittle fracture mode occurred when the Ni content was in the range of 0-1 wt.%.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51465039 and 51765040), Nature Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (20161BAB206122).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab for Robot and Welding Automation of Jiangxi Province, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering School, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Yanqing Lai, Xiaowu Hu, Xiongxin Jiang & Yulong Li

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Correspondence to Xiaowu Hu.

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Lai, Y., Hu, X., Jiang, X. et al. Effect of Ni Addition to Sn0.7Cu Solder Alloy on Thermal Behavior, Microstructure, and Mechanical Properties. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 27, 6564–6576 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3734-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-018-3734-7

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