Enhancement of Microstructural and Physical Properties of Sn-0.7Cu Lead-Free Solder with the Addition of SiC Particles

Nowadays, composite solder has gained researcher’s attention due to its promising improvement in physical and mechanical properties for lead-free solder. To improve the properties of Sn-0.7Cu (SnCu): the promising lead-free candidate, addition of silicon carbide (SiC) as a reinforcement was used into this study. However, its limitation on solderability as compared with SnAgCu (SAC) make it not an attractive alternative lead-free solder. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of SiC particle on microstructure evolution and physical properties of SnCu based solder alloys. SnCu-SiC composite solders were synthesized by powder metallurgy method (PM), which consists of several processes such as mechanical blending, compaction and sintering. Five different weight percentages of SiC particle; 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75 and 1.00 were mechanically blended with SnCu lead-free solder. The result shows that the addition of SiC particle has decreased the β-Sn area and refined the microstructure of composite solder. In addition, the improvement in microhardness of composite was achieved.