Effect of aging treatment on microstructural evolution of rapidly solidified eutectic Sn-Pb alloy powders

Abstract

The microstructural stability of rapidly solidified eutectic Sn-Pb alloy solder powders was investigated through aging at room temperature (25 °C) and temperatures of 40 °C-120 °C. The coarsening behavior of the Pb-rich phase both at room and elevated temperatures was observed. The evident coarsening of the Pb-rich phase was detected upon storage after 40 days. At elevated temperatures, a similar sequence of Pb-rich phase coarsening was observed; however, it occurred substantially more quickly. Pb-rich coarsening rate kinetics at different temperatures were estimated using the Arrhenius equation. The apparent activation energy was 45.53 ± 4.23 KJ/mol, which indicates that grain boundary diffusion is a crucial mass transport mechanism controlling Pb-rich phase coarsening under annealing.