Effect of the nickel coated precipitated calcium carbonate addition on microstructure, phase and wettability of Sn-9Zn solder

Abstract

This paper presents the effect of nickel-coated precipitated calcium carbonate (Ni-coated PCC) on the wettability, microstructure and phase change of Sn-9Zn solder. The microstructure and phase analysis of the material plays a very important role as it determines the physical and mechanical behavior of materials. Both Sn-9Zn and Ni-coated PCC/Sn-9Zn produced almost similar microstructure, which contain needle-like, dark phase Zn-rich phase and distributed evenly in beta-Sn rich matrix. However, compared to pure Sn-9Zn, the addition of Ni-coated PCC produce finer size of Zn rich phase needle-like structure. The presence of new phases of nickel tin and calcium carbonate compounds was also found with the addition of Ni-coated PCC. This believed to help in refining the size of Zn-rich needle structure, while retaining the original phases of Sn and Zn of the Sn-9Zn solder, Furthermore, Ni-coated PCC/Sn-9Zn have a smaller contact angle compared to pure Sn-9Zn. This can be explained that, Ni-coated PCC reinforced particle was the interfacial active element and decrease the interfacial energy between the solid and liquid. The microstructure and phase analysis of the material plays a very important role as it determines the wettability behavior of the material