Directional solidification of the sn-40bi-0.

7cu
lead-free solder alloy
Bismarck Luiz Silva1, Jos Eduardo Spinelli1
1

Universidade Federal de So Carlos - Campus: So Carlos

e-mail: bismarck_luiz@yahoo.com.br

Due to environmental and health concerns, efforts in replacing conventional

Sn-Pb eutectic solder with lead-free alternative have been tried. In order to
attain melting temperatures as close as possible to those of Sn-Pb
alloys (183-220C) a third element may be added for an alternative solder alloy.
The Sn-Bi alloys are possible Pb-free solder for low temperature soldering due to
its low temperature. Small alloying additions of Cu can improve the ductility,
mechanical strength and wettability of these alloys. However, a deeper study
needs to be done so that their as-cast or as-soldered microstructures could be
better characterized. Thus, the main goal of present study is to investigate
solidification thermal parameters such as tip growth rare (VL), cooling rate (TL)
and thermal gradient (G L ) as well as microstructure features ( 1 , 2 and
intermetallic compounds) in the directionally solidified Sn-40wt%Bi-0.7wt%Cu
solder alloy under transient conditions. The typical microstructures were obtained
by optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The microstructures
observed from bottom to top along the Sn-Bi-Cu ingot were entirely dendritic. It
can be seen that the as-cast microstructure is composed of Sn-rich dendrites
(containing embedded Bi particles) surrrounded by eutectic mixture (Bi+Sn) and
Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compounds. These patterns agree with those referred in
literature. Futher, dendritic arm spacing (1 and 2) tends to increase as TL is
decreased.

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