Influence of ZnO nano-particles addition on thermal analysis, microstructure evolution and tensile behavior of Sn–5.0 wt% Sb–0.5 wt% Cu lead-free solder alloy A.N. Fouda a,n , E.A. Eid b a Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez-Canal University, 41522 Ismailia, Egypt b Basic Science Department, Higher Technological Institute, 44629 10th of Ramadan City, Egypt article info Article history: Received 15 December 2014 Received in revised form 22 February 2015 Accepted 25 February 2015 Available online 5 March 2015 Keywords: Functional alloys Elastic properties Nano-crystalline structure Composite solder Microstructure abstract Sn–5 wt%Sb–0.5 wt%Cu (plain SSC505) and Sn–5 wt%Sb–0.5 wt%Cu–0.5 wt% ZnO (SSC-ZnO) composite solder alloys have been studied. The variation in thermal behavior, microstructure and tensile characteristics associated with mixing of 0.5 wt% ZnO nano-metric particles to plain SSC505 solder were investigated. A slight increment in the melting temperature [ΔT m ¼0.89 1C] was recorded using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) after addition of ZnO. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the existence of β-Sn, SbSn and Cu 6 Sn 5 intermetallic compounds (IMCs) beside some of ZnO planes in SSC-ZnO composite solder. Field emission scanning electronic microscope (FE-SEM) investigation of SSC- ZnO composite solder revealed a homogenous uniform distribution, size refinement of IMCs and β-Sn grains. Addition of ZnO nano-metric particles into the plain SSC505 enhanced the yield stress σ YS by 12% and improved the ultimate tensile strength σ UTS by 13%. In addition, adding ZnO nano-metric particles was found to be effective for reducing ductility by 43% of the plain solder due to the refinement of β-Sn grains within SSC-ZnO composite solder. & 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Sn based alloys are promising for advance electronics compo- nents connections as a lead-free composite solder [1]. Recently, high-temperature solders have been widely used in various types of applications like assembling optoelectronic components, auto- mobile circuit boards, circuit modules for step soldering, etc. [2]. Eutectic composition of gold–tin (Au–20 wt% Sn) is the best solder alloy for most applications in optoelectronic packaging, because of its high creep resistance, wettability and good reliability [3,4]. Certainly, high soldering temperatures could damage the proper- ties of optical fibers and sensitive optoelectronics such as lasers, light emitting devices, photodetectors, or waveguide devices [2,5]. To solve this problem, great effort has been made to develop a new generation of solders with low melting point, reasonable cost, high dimension stability and supporting solder joints performance with increasing miniaturization and more input/output terminals [6]. Sn–5 wt% Sb solder is one of great potential alternative materials, it has a stable microstructure, good mechanical properties, high creep and corrosion resistance and good solderability (contact angle of about 431) [7,8]. To enhance the performance of Sn–Sb solders, the incorporation of a third material with Sn-based matrix as a secondary phase is one of the conventional approaches [9,10]. Micro/nano size metallic, intermetallic and oxide particles are widely used in the reinforcement of composite materials [11]. Nano-size oxides, intermetallic, or ceramic particles are used to reinforce the composite solders of Sn–Ag and Sn–Ag–Cu (SAC). Many researchers investigated the effect of adding nanoparticles to solder alloys. Babaghorbani et al. [12] added SnO 2 nanopowders to Sn93.5Ag lead-free solder alloy. Taso and Chang [4] mixed TiO 2 nano-size particles to Sn–3.5Ag–0.25Cu solder. They discussed the effect of adding nanoparticles on the thermal characteristics of solder solidification and refinement of the grain size. Nai et al. reported an improvement in the mechanical properties of the carbon nano-tubes/composite solders [11]. Moreover, some efforts have been made to reinforce Sn–3.5Ag solder with nanopowders of ZrO 2 , SiC, Cu, Co, Ni, Ag, and intermetallic particles (Cu 6 Sn 5 , Ni 3 Sn 4 ) using different processing methods [6,12–15]. However, the secondary phase must be sufficiently fine, bond well, stable, has a higher flow resistance than the alloy matrix, un-deformable and resist the fracture of solder joint [16–18]. The literature survey revealed that no studies have been reported so far on lead-free SSC505 solder joints containing Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/msea Materials Science & Engineering A http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.msea.2015.02.070 0921-5093/& 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. n Corresponding author. Tel.: þ20 1227507971. E-mail addresses: alynabieh@yahoo.com (A.N. Fouda), dr_eid_hti@yahoo.com (E.A. Eid). Materials Science & Engineering A 632 (2015) 82–87