Effect of cooling and aging on microstructure and mechanical properties of Sn-9Zn solder

The microstructure and tensile properties of Sn-9Zn solder under different cooling and aging condition were studied. During solidification,the distribution of Zn-rich phases and grain size in the microstructure of Sn-9Zn solder were decided by the cooling rate. The Zn-rich phase in Sn-9Zn solder under furnace cooling,air cooling and water cooling media was separately existed as coarsen dendritic and needle like shape,fine needle like shape and very fine rod-like shape,respectively. After aging,the coarsen dendritic was broken and the coarsen needle like Zn-rich phase was partly changed into fine distribution of Zn-rich phase for Sn-9Zn solder with furnace cooling,and the rod-like Zn phase in the Sn-9Zn solder under water cooling was changed to conglomerated Zn with needle shape. During tensile testing on Sn-9Zn solder,tensile strength and ductility reached the best with water cooling,but decreased with aging effect. Meanwhile,the ductility of solder with air cooling and the strength of solder with furnace cooling increased with aging. The fracture mode was ductile and was independent of cooling media and aging effect. The size and depth of dimples decreased from water,furnace to air cooling.After aging,number and size of dimples increased on the solder with furnace cooling and air cooling. The change on the size of dimples for the Sn-9Zn solder under different cooling condition and with aging effect was accordance to the tensile properties.