Abstract
Growing concern about the toxic effects of lead in conventional solders has prompted the development of lead free solders. Creep owing to heating in service is one of the causes of solder joint failures in electronic packages. The present study deals with the impression creep behaviour of eutectic Sn – 58Bi, Sn – 57Bi – 1˙3Zn and Sn – 38Pb alloys in the temperature range 303 – 393 K and stress range 2˙6 – 180 MPa. Power law creep with stress exponent n varying from 2 to 6˙3 is observed. All the alloys reveal a strong stress dependence of activation enthalpy with values 155, 120 and 112 kJ mol-1 for Sn – 58Bi, Sn – 57Bi – 1˙3Zn and Sn – 38Pb, respectively, which are well above those for self-diffusion. The steady state impression velocity varies linearly with punch diameter for all three alloys. It is concluded that a mechanism such as forest intersection involving attractive junctions controls the creep flow in these alloys.
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