Prediction of activities of all components in the lead-free solder systems Bi–In–Sn and Bi–In–Sn–Zn

The activities of components of the ternary lead-free solder systems Al–Sn–Zn at 973 K, Zn–Cu–Sn at 1023 K and Bi–In–Sn at 1000 and 1050 K have been predicted by a novel molecular interaction volume model-MIVM and the results are in good agreement with experimental data. Then the activities of all components of the Bi–In–Sn at 550 K and the Bi–In–Sn–Zn quaternary system at 700 K have been further predicted and the results are reasonable and reliable. This shows that the model may be a superior alternative for describing interfacial chemical reactions between lead-free solder alloys and common base materials and for the calculation of their phase diagrams because MIVM has certain physical meaning from the viewpoint of statistical thermodynamics and requires only two infinite dilute activity coefficients for each sub-binary system.