Influence of ceramic reinforcements on the wettability and mechanical properties of novel lead-free solder composites

In the present study, two sets of Sn–3.5 Ag–0.7 Cu solder-based composite materials were successfully synthesized using the powder metallurgy route of blending, compaction, sintering and extrusion. Varying amount of titanium diboride particulates and multi-walled carbon nanotubes were introduced respectively as reinforcements to obtain the two sets of composite solders. Following synthesis, the extruded materials were characterized in terms of their wettability and mechanical properties. Wettability property of the composite solder was found to improve with a threshold addition of reinforcements. Moreover, the results of mechanical properties characterization exhibited enhanced overall strength of the composite solders. An attempt is made in the present study to correlate the variation in amount of the reinforcements with the properties of the resultant nanocomposite materials.