Abstract
The effect of SiC nanoparticles (NPs) addition on the microstructure, thermal and tensile properties of Sn-Zn-Ag solder alloy (SZA822) was studied. Mechanical mixing technique has been utilized to disperse SiC in SZA822 at 673 K for 3 h. Microstructure analysis revealed the plain SZA822 and SZA822-0.5 SiC composite solders are mainly composed of Sn, IMCs of Ag3Sn & AgZn and Zn. But, after SiC addition, Ag3Sn particles were refined while AgZn partially dissolves in the Sn-matrix. One endothermic peak appeared in each solder alloy which confirms one-step melting. The melting temperature is maintained at the SZA822 level. Tensile results showed that the levels of the stress-strain curves were sensitive to the values of deformation temperature T-d, strain rate (epsilon)over dot, and SiC loading. The ultimate tensile strength (sigma(UTS)) increases while total strain (epsilon(T)) decreases with SiC loading. So, SiCNPs act as a reinforcing agent. The strain rate sensitivity index (m) of composite solder was 0.09 and for SZA822 it was 0.11. Finally, the value of the activation energy Q of composite solder was 73.7 KJ/mole which is higher than that of SZA822 (61.7 KJ/mole). The Q values suggest that the dislocation motion mechanism is applicable in this work.