Faculty Publications
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Item Determination of spread activation energy and assessment of wetting behavior of solders on metallic substrates(American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), 2010) Prabhu, K.N.; Kumar, G.The effects of substrate material, substrate surface roughness, and operating temperature on the wetting behavior of Sn-37Pb, Sn-3.5Ag, and Sn-9Zn eutectic solders on metallic substrates were investigated. Solder spreading kinetics was successfully represented by the exponential power law (EPL): ?=exp (-K ?n). The EPL parameter K has the significance of accelerating the kinetics of relaxation while the parameter n represents the resistance to spreading process (spread resistance parameter). EPL parameters exhibited a decreasing trend with an increase in surface roughness. Estimated activation energies for solder spreading were found to be in between those reported for inert and highly reactive spreading systems. © 2010 American Society of Mechanical Engineers.Item Effect of cooling rate during solidification of Sn-9Zn lead-free solder alloy on its microstructure, tensile strength and ductile-brittle transition temperature(Elsevier Ltd, 2012) Prabhu, K.N.; Deshapande, P.; Satyanarayan, S.Solidification rate is an important variable during processing of materials, including soldering, involving solidification. The rate of solidification controls the metallurgical microstructure at the solder joint and hence the mechanical properties. A high tensile strength and a lower ductile-brittle transition temperature are necessary for reliability of solder joints in electronic circuits. Hence in the present work, the effect of cooling rate during solidification on microstructure, impact and tensile properties of Sn-9Zn lead-free solder alloy was investigated. Four different cooling media (copper and stainless steel moulds, air and furnace cooling) were used for solidification to achieve different cooling rates. Solder alloy solidified in copper mould exhibited higher cooling rate as compared to other cooling media. The microstructure is refined as the cooling rate was increased from 0.03 to 25 °C/s. With increase in cooling rate it was observed that the size of Zn flakes became finer and distributed uniformly throughout the matrix. Ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) of the solder alloy increased with increase in cooling rate. Fractured surfaces of impact test specimens showed cleavage like appearance and river like pattern at very low temperatures and dimple like appearance at higher temperatures. The tensile strength of the solder alloy solidified in Cu and stainless moulds were higher as compared to air and furnace cooled samples. It is therefore suggested that the cooling rate during solidification of the solder alloy should be optimum to maximize the strength and minimize the DBTT. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.Item Effect of Reflow Time on Wetting Behavior, Microstructure Evolution, and Joint Strength of Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu Solder on Bare and Nickel-Coated Copper Substrates(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2016) Sona, M.; Prabhu, K.N.The effect of reflow time on wetting behavior of Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu lead-free solder on bare and nickel-coated copper substrates has been investigated. The solder alloy was reflowed at 270°C for various reflow times of 10 s, 100 s, 300 s, and 500 s. On bare copper substrate, the intermetallic compound (IMC) thickness increased with increase in reflow time, whereas on Ni-coated Cu substrate, the IMC thickness increased up to 300 s followed by a drop for solder alloy reflowed for 500 s. The spreading behavior of the solder alloy was categorized into capillary, gravity (diffusion), and viscous zones. Gravity zone was obtained from 3.8 ± 0.43 s to 38.97 ± 3.38 s and from 5.99 ± 0.5 s to 77.82 ± 8.84 s for the Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu/Ni/Cu system, respectively. Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu solder alloy was also reflowed for the period corresponding to the end of the gravity zone (40 s and 80 s on bare and Ni-coated Cu, respectively). The joint strength was maximum at reflow time of 40 s and 80 s for the Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu/Cu and Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu/Ni/Cu system, respectively. The dynamic contact angle at the end of the gravity (diffusion) zone (?gz) was found to be a better parameter compared with the stabilized contact angle (?f) to assess the effect of the wettability of the liquid solder on the microstructure and joint strength. The present investigation reveals the significance of the gravity zone in assessment of optimum reflow time for lead-free solder alloys. © 2016, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society.Item The Effect of Wetting Gravity Regime on Shear Strength of SAC and Sn-Pb Solder Lap Joints(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2017) Sona, M.; Prabhu, K.N.The failure of solder joints due to imposed stresses in an electronic assembly is governed by shear bond strength. In the present study, the effect of wetting gravity regime on single-lap shear strength of Sn-0.3Ag-0.7Cu and Sn-2.5Ag-0.5Cu solder alloys reflowed between bare copper substrates as well as Ni-coated Cu substrates was investigated. Samples were reflowed for 10 s, Tgz (time corresponding to the end of gravity regime) and 100 s individually and tested for single-lap shear strength. The single-lap shear test was also carried out on eutectic Sn-Pb/Cu- and Sn-Pb/Ni-coated Cu specimens to compare the shear strength values obtained with those of lead-free alloys. The eutectic Sn-Pb showed significantly higher ultimate shear strength on bare Cu substrates when compared to Sn-Ag-Cu alloys. However, SAC alloys reflowed on nickel-coated copper substrate exhibited higher shear strength when compared to eutectic Sn-Pb/Ni-coated Cu specimens. All the substrate/solder/substrate lap joint specimens that were reflowed for the time corresponding to the end of gravity regime exhibited maximum ultimate shear strength. © 2017, ASM International.Item Effect of Ni nanoparticles reinforcement on wettability, microstructure and mechanical properties of SAC387 lead-free solder alloy(Elsevier Ltd, 2025) Muhammed, H.J.; Prabhu, K.N.The study investigates the influence of nickel (Ni) nanoparticles on the wettability, microstructure, and mechanical properties of Sn-3.8Ag-0.7Cu (SAC387) lead-free solder alloy. Nanocomposite solders containing 0.3 wt% and 0.5 wt% Ni were prepared and reflowed at temperatures of 230 °C, 250 °C, and 270 °C to evaluate their performance on copper substrates with a surface roughness (Ra) of 0.01 ± 0.002 ?m. Wettability improved with increasing reflow temperature; however, the addition of Ni nanoparticles had minimal direct impact on spreading behavior. Microstructural analysis revealed enhanced formation of interfacial intermetallic compounds (IMCs), particularly (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 which contributed to improved joint stability. The optimal mechanical performance was observed at 250 °C with 0.3 wt% Ni addition, yielding a 51.14 % increase in shear strength compared to the unreinforced solder. Microhardness also improved significantly by 43.7 % at the IMC layer and 18.3 % in the solder bulk. Weibull analysis further confirmed higher joint performance with Ni nanoparticle incorporation. These findings highlight the potential of addition of Ni nanoparticles in improving the performance of SAC387 solder joints in electronic packaging. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd