Effects of CeO2 nanoparticles addition on shear properties of low-silver Sn–0.3Ag–0.7Cu-xCeO2 solder alloys

Effect of kaolin geopolymer ceramic addition on the properties of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu solder joint

“…The formation of large dimples at the fracture surface is likely associated with the large brittle IMC as suggested by Z.H. Li et al[9] and M.A.A Mohd Salleh et al[21].…”

“…Moreover, to precisely observe the microstructural changes in each of the samples, the area fraction of β-Sn phases and eutectic phases were quantitively analyzed with the threshold image by using the J-image software as depicted in Figure 7. According to Figure 7, The enhancement in the microstructure of SAC305 lead free solder is likelyattributed to the heterogeneous nucleation [9,21,36,37]. During the reflow soldering, KGC particles finely dispersed throughout the molten solder matrix.…”

“…As the best microstructure refinement was achieved with 1.0 wt.% KGC, the addition of KGC beyond this value slightly increases the area fraction β-Sn and decreases the area fraction of eutectic phase. This event might occur in the case of possible agglomeration of fine reinforcement particles in Sn solder matrix which may decrease the surface energy and consequently reduce the refining effect in the solder [9]. The average thickness of IMC layer for pure SAC305 solder and KGC reinforced SAC305 composite solder was measured and shown in Figure 9.…”

“…This was due to the ceramic reinforcements were extremely stable at high temperature and no new excessive phase will form either during the fabrication or due to the large temperature difference between the reinforcing particles and solder alloys [2,6]. Reinforcing the solder matrix with small amounts of ceramic particles including cerium oxide (CeO2) [9,10], zirconia (ZrO2) [11,12], titanium oxide (TiO2) [2,[13][14][15][16][17][18], silicon carbide (SiC) [19,20], silicon nitride (Si3N4) [21,22], iron oxide (Fe2O3) [23], strontium titanate (SrTiO3) [24], titanium carbide (TiC) [25], silicon dioxide (SiO2) [26], lanthanum oxide (La2O3) [27] and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) [28,29] have shown to improve microstructure formations, mechanical and thermal properties of solder. Li et al [9] hypothesized that the incorporation of ceramic particles in solder matrix may act as heterogenous nucleation sites for β-Sn and eutectic phase which could increase the nucleation rate and may result in smaller grain size.…”

“…Reinforcing the solder matrix with small amounts of ceramic particles including cerium oxide (CeO2) [9,10], zirconia (ZrO2) [11,12], titanium oxide (TiO2) [2,[13][14][15][16][17][18], silicon carbide (SiC) [19,20], silicon nitride (Si3N4) [21,22], iron oxide (Fe2O3) [23], strontium titanate (SrTiO3) [24], titanium carbide (TiC) [25], silicon dioxide (SiO2) [26], lanthanum oxide (La2O3) [27] and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) [28,29] have shown to improve microstructure formations, mechanical and thermal properties of solder. Li et al [9] hypothesized that the incorporation of ceramic particles in solder matrix may act as heterogenous nucleation sites for β-Sn and eutectic phase which could increase the nucleation rate and may result in smaller grain size. Besides that, Gain et al [12] has hypothesized that the shear strength of Sn-Ag-Cu was higher than the unreinforced solder even though it was subjected to multiple reflow cycles due to the homogenous distributions of ceramic particles that lead to dispersion strengthening mechanism.…”