Effect of ZnO nanoparticles addition

on thermal, microstructure and tensile

properties of Sn3.5 Ag0.5 Cu (SAC355)
solder alloy
A.Fawzy, S.A.Fayek, M.Sobhy,
E.Nassr, M.M.Mousa & G.Saad

Journal of Materials Science:

Materials in Electronics
ISSN 0957-4522
Volume 24
Number 9
J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013)
24:3210-3218
DOI 10.1007/s10854-013-1230-2

1 23

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J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:32103218
DOI 10.1007/s10854-013-1230-2

Effect of ZnO nanoparticles addition on thermal, microstructure

and tensile properties of Sn3.5 Ag0.5 Cu (SAC355) solder alloy
A. Fawzy S. A. Fayek M. Sobhy
E. Nassr M. M. Mousa G. Saad

Received: 1 February 2013 / Accepted: 5 April 2013 / Published online: 18 April 2013
Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

Abstract Regarding to the development of SnAgCu

(SAC) lead-free solders for advance electronic components, the effect of 0.5 wt% nano-sized ZnO particles on
the thermal, microstructure and tensile properties of
Sn3.5 wt% Ag0.5 wt% Cu (SAC355) lead-free solder
alloy is investigated. The results showed that addition
of 0.5 wt% nano-sized ZnO particles into the conventional
lead-free SAC355 solder caused a slight increase of
its liquidus temperature by about 1.1 K. Metallographic
observations of SAC3550.5 wt% ZnO (composite solder)
revealed an obvious refinement in the microstructure
compared with the SAC355 (non-composite) solder. Consequently, addition of nano sized-ZnO particles could
improve the stressstrain characteristics proof stress (ry0.2)
and ultimate strength (rUTS). This was rendered to suppressing effect of ZnO on the coarsening of the intemetallic
compounds (IMCs) Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 during the solidification process in the composite solder and subsequently
dispersion strengthening is considered to be the dominating
mechanism. This will allow the use of SAC355 composite
lead-free solder alloy, to be consistent with the conditions
of usage for conventional SAC solder alloys and to overcome the serious problem of the excessive growth of IMCs
and the formation of microvoids in the SAC lead-free
solder alloys.

A. Fawzy (&)  M. Sobhy  E. Nassr  M. M. Mousa  G. Saad

Physics Department, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams
University, Cairo, Egypt
e-mail: afawzy1955@yahoo.com
S. A. Fayek
Physics Department, National Centre for Radiation Research
and Technology, Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

123

1 Introduction
In electronic industry, solders are important materials
because they provide both the electrical connections and
mechanical response between integrated circuit devices
and the substrate [1]. The strength of solder joints is
affected by thermal stability of the solder alloys. They must
have long-term reliability under extreme conditions; particularly at relatively high working temperatures. During
the past seven decades, eutectic and near eutectic PbSn
solders have been used as the principal joining materials
because of their low cost, low melting point (183 C), good
solderability and good mechanical properties [25]. PbSn
solders are also highly compatible with electronics assembly
processes and can form stable joints that are usable under a
wide variety of service environments [25]. Because of its
hazardous nature to health and the environment and with
arrival of legislative restriction on the use of lead solders by
European Union, restricting the usage of lead solder alloys
has now become a reality [2].
Motivated by the above reasons, nowadays, with device
miniaturization and high performance demands in Microsystems, it has become very significant to improve properties
and reliability of lead-free solder joints [1]. An attractive and
potentially available method of enhancing solder joint is
carried out by adding reinforcements (third and fourth elements) to solder alloys, to form a composite solder. The
reinforcing particles should have suppressing effect for grainboundary sliding, large intermetallic compound formation,
and suppresses also the grain growth, thereby causing the
stress in the solder joints to be distributed uniformly. In this
way the solder joint could provide better reliability with
improved thermal stability of the microstructure [2].
Conventional SnAgCu (SAC) solder alloys are considered to be one of the best lead-free alloy systems. The

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J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:32103218

main benefits of this alloy system are its relatively low

melting temperature and its superior mechanical properties,
as well as relatively good solderability [6]. However, and
because of their high moduli, SAC solders are not very
satisfactory for certain applications especially in mobile
electronics [7]. In addition, serious problems made the
SAC conventional solder may not guarantee the required
performance at finer degrees of performance due to: (1)
higher diffusivity and consequently the excessive growth of
intemetallic compounds (IMCs), (2) formation of microvoids and (3) softening nature of the SAC Pb-free solders.
To solve these problems, efforts have been made to
develop solders with low melting point, higher strength and
better microstructure properties.
Recently, addition of nano-sized particles to the conventional SAC solder has been identified as composite
solder alloys. Lead-free SAC composite solders have been
identified as potential materials with higher microstructure
stability and better mechanical properties as compared to
the conventional SAC solders. Mavoori and Jin [8] studied
Pb37Sn composite solder with 10 nm Al2O3 and 5 nm
TiO2 reinforcement particles and reported significant
improvements in its mechanical properties. Mechanical
measurements reported significant increases in microhardness, offset yield strength (0.2 %YS), and ultimate tensile
strength (UTS). However, the ductility decreased with
increasing amounts of TiO2 nano-sized particles. Tsao
et al. [8, 9] reported significant improvement in the
mechanical response after adding: (1) nano-sized TiO2
particles on Sn35Ag025Cu [9], and (2) nano-sized Al2O3
on Sn35Ag5Cu lead-free solders [10]. Shen and Chan
[11] also after studying Sn9Zn composite solder with
ZrO2 nano-sized particles achieved significant improvements in mechanical properties.
It has been found that literature survey revealed that no
studies have been reported so far on lead-free SAC solder
joints containing nano-sized ZnO particles. So, the present
work is devoted for investigating the effect of addition of
nano-sized ZnO particles on thermal, microstructure and
tensile properties of Sn3.5 wt%Ag0.5 wt%Cu (SAC355)
lead free composite solder at various experimental test
conditions for trying to improve its microstructure and
tensile properties.

2 Experimental procedures
A Lead-free solder, Sn3.5 wt%Ag0.5 wt%Cu (SAC355)
solder alloy, is prepared from Sn, Ag and Cu ingots of
99.99 % purity. SAC355 lead free composite solder was
prepared by mechanically mixing 0.5 wt% of nano-sized
ZnO particles into the prepared conventional SAC355 lead
free solder with subsequent remelting in a vacuum furnace

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at 603 K for 2 h, followed by casting into a stainless steel

mold and cooled down to room temperature in air.
Ingots of the two alloys in the form of bars were cold
drawn into a 0.8 mm diameter wire. A part of each alloy
was rolled into sheet of 0.4 mm for microstructure investigations. Specimens with a gauge length of 50 mm were
prepared for tensile testing. Prior to the tensile testing, all
specimens were heat-treated at a temperature of 393 K for
2.5 h and then cooled down to room temperature to stabilize microstructure and remove the residual defects produced during the drawning process. For metallographic
observations, the required sheet specimens were etched in a
solution of 80 % glycerin, 10 % nitric acid and 10 % acetic
acid.
Tensile tests were carried out by straining each specimen to fracture. Stressstrain measurements are performed
at different strain rates ranging from 1.7 9 10-4 to
1 9 10-3 s-1 at different testing temperatures ranging
from 298 to 373 K using a computerized tensile testing
machine described elsewhere [12].
Melting temperatures of the two solders were analyzed
using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) at a heating
rate of 10 C/min. Microstructure of the two alloys was
investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM).
X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis are adopted for determination of the
phases and their elemental composition in both SAC355
solder and SAC355 composite lead-free solder alloys.

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Melting characteristics
Melting temperatures of both SAC355 solder and SAC355
composite solder are determined from the DSC curves
obtained in Fig. 1. Figure 1a exhibits the DSC curve of the
SAC355 solder while Fig. 1b shows the DSC curve of the
SAC355 composite solder specimen which doped with
0.5 wt% nano-sized ZnO particles. The observed endothermic peaks of the SAC355 solder and SAC355 composite solder were found shifted from 494.18 to 495.26 K.
For each solder, only one peak is observed and melting
temperature of the SAC355 composite solder was found
slightly higher than that of the conventional SAC355 solder
by about 1.1 K. This observation was found similar to
those obtained in other studies on SAC composite solders
[9, 10, 13, 14]. The slightly increase in melting point of the
SAC355 composite solder can be attributed to the effect of
the nano-sized ZnO particles on the rate of solidification.
Such particles may serve as retardation sites for the
solidification process of the IMCs. The reinforcing nanosized ZnO particles may also change the surface instability

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and physical properties of the grain boundary interfacial

characteristics. This result was in good agreement with
those reported for Sn3.5 wt% Ag0.25 wt% Cu reinforced with nano-sized TiO2 [9] and SAC355 with nanosized Al2O3 particles [10]. X-ray diffraction (XRD), analysis is performed to emphasize phase composition of the
nano-sized ZnO particles (Fig. 2a). Figure 2b represents a
TEM image for the nano-sized ZnO particles used in this
study. It showed an average size of nominally polyhedrons
nano-sized ZnO particles with *66 nm diameter.
3.2 Microstructure analysis
Under near equilibrium solidification, X-ray diffraction
investigation of SAC355 solder and SAC355 composite
solder as illustrated by the diffraction patterns shown in
Fig. 3a, b exhibited three types of phases; b-Sn, Ag3Sn and
Cu6Sn5 phases. The diffraction patterns of both solders are
found to have nearly the same features. Besides, SEM
Images for the microstructure of SAC355 solder alloy and
SAC355 composite solder are shown in Figs 4 and 5.
Figure 4b showed a significantly decrease in the grain sizes
of the b-Sn matrix of the SAC355 composite solder compared with those in the SAC solder alloy shown in Fig. 4a.
As can be seen from Fig. 5a, it is observed that the solidification process exhibited dendritic dark regions and
interdendritic bright regions consisting of needle-like fine
particles besides irregular polygon shapes. EDS analysis,
confirmed that the dark dendrite arms is the b-Sn phase
while the bright interdendritic regions are found to contain
Cu, Sn and Ag. Since the solders used were SAC355, the
eutectic mixture contain the needle-like fine Ag3Sn particles dispersed within the Sn-rich matrix besides irregular

20

(a)

SAC
0

Heat Flow (mW/mg)

-20
-40
o

221.18 C (494.18 K)
-60
20

150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290
(b)300

SAC+ZnO

0
-20
-40
o

222.26 C (495.26 K)
-60
160

180

200

220

240

260

280

300

Temperature (C )

Fig. 1 DSC curves of a SAC355 and b SAC composite solder

containing ZnO nanoparticles

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polygons of Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compounds (IMCs). The

presence of these IMCs is confirmed by the XRD shown in
Fig. 3.
Addition of nano-sized ZnO particles is found to affect
the microstructure of SAC355 solder. Figure 5b revealed
the microstructure of the SAC355 composite solder alloy.
It presents the same features in the microstructure of the
SAC355 solder. It is clear from this figure that b-Sn
interdendritic arms (eutectic mixture) as well as the IMC
particles in the composite solder are reduced in size, i.e.
seem to be small and fine compared with those in SAC355
solder alloy. According to the EDS analysis, the eutectic
areas were found to contain Zn, O, Cu, Sn and Ag. Thus, it
can be concluded that the network eutectic areas are
Cu6Sn5 and Ag3Sn besides the ZnO particles. This retardation effect of the ZnO nano-sized particles is similar with
that reported in other studies [911, 1316]. This means
that addition of 0.5 wt% nano-sized ZnO to SAC355 seems
to suppress the formation of the b-Sn dendrites, Ag3Sn
needle-like and the Cu6Sn5 polygon particles yielding a
uniform dispersion of these IMCs within the Sn-rich mixture producing a fine network like microstructure with the
b-Sn (Fig. 5b) which subsequently may affects its physical
and mechanical properties.
3.3 Tensile response
A typical set of representative stressstrain curves of the
SAC355 solder (solid lines) and SAC355 composite solder
(dotted lines) stretched by different strain rates ranging
from 1.7 9 10-4 to 9.2 9 10-2 s-1 at a constant deformation temperature of 298 K are shown in Fig. 6a. Figure 6b shows another set of representative stressstrain
curves of the same solders stretched by a constant strain
rate of 7.4 9 10-4 s-1 at the deformation temperatures
298, 323, 348 and 373 K. From these figures, it is noted
that levels of the stress strain curves shifted towards higher
values by increasing strain rates and/or decreasing the
testing temperatures. Moreover, addition of ZnO is noticed
to increase the level of the stress strain curves at all test
conditions (Strain rate and testing temperature). In details,
stressstrain characteristics namely the ultimate tensile
stress rUTS, the yield stress ry0.2 of both SAC355 solder
and SAC355 composite solder are strongly affected by the
variation of the strain rate, testing temperature and the
existence of the nano-sized ZnO particles. For both solders
at the same testing temperature, increasing strain rate
(Fig. 7) gives rise to higher values of rUTS. The proof
stress ry0.2 (not presented here) exhibited the same
behavior as rUTS. At the same strain rate, raising the
testing temperature resulted in a continuous softening; a
decrease in rUTS was observed. This behavior can be
interpreted as follows:

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(a)

nano-sized
ZnO

(104)

(202)

(201)

(200)

(103)

(110)

(102)

(100)
(002)

Intensity (arbitrary units)

Fig. 2 a XRD patterns of the

nano-sized ZnO particles, and
b Bright field TEM of nanosized ZnO nanoparticles

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(101)

J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:32103218

2 Theta

(b)

It is well known that for most metals and alloys, solder

alloys experience simultaneous work hardening and
dynamic recovery when they are deformed. The work
hardening and dynamic recovery have opposite effects on
the mechanical properties of the solder alloys, where the
former hardens the material while the latter leads to softening. The stressstrain curves obtained here seems to
present the combined effects of both factors. Figure 7
shows the relation between the strain rates and the ultimate
tensile stress (rUTS) for both the SAC355 solder and
SAC355 composite solder at different testing temperatures.
This figure shows that increasing strain rates increased both
the rUTS in both solders. This is because increasing strain
rate is accompanied by an increase in the dislocation
density. As these dislocations move they become mixed. It

is then more difficult for other dislocations to glide through

the material, especially at the lower deformation temperatures. At high testing temperature; dislocation annihilation
seems to occur more rapidly than dislocation generation
during deformation. Therefore, at higher testing temperatures the lower strain rate provided lower strength in the
tested solder and dynamic recovery seems to occur,
resulting in the decrease in rUTS as can be concluded from
Fig. 7.
It must be noted that the SAC355 composite solder alloy
samples exhibited higher values of rUTS compared with
those exhibited by the SAC355 solder one at all testing
temperatures. High values of the rUTS in the composite
solder alloy may be attributed to the difference in
the microstructures of these solders (Figs. 4, 5). The

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refinement and uniform distribution of the Ag3Sn and

Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compounds seem to provide greater
evidence of dispersion strengthening due to the finer

(a)

(b)

Fig. 3 XRD patterns of: a SAC355 solder and b SAC355 composite

solder alloys showing the existence of three types of phases

particle sizes in the composite solder (reinforced) compared to the SAC355 (un-reinforced) solder one. The
relationship between rUTS and the strain rates (_e) for both
alloys can be expressed by the equation [17, 18]:
rUTS C _em
where C is a constant, e_ is the strain rate and m is the strain
rate sensitivity index. Values of m describe the capacity
of the material for necking resistance [18]. These values of
the index m can be obtained from the loglog relation of
the strain rate (_e) and the ultimate tensile stress (rUTS). The
mean value of m for the SAC355 composite solder was
found to be slightly higher than that in the SAC355 solder
indicating higher resistance for necking. This may be
attributed to its finer microstructure which allow for more
interaction between dislocations that created during
deformation and the fine IMC particles beside the nanosized ZnO particles.
The similar variation of ry0.2 with testing temperature
and strain rate on can be understood by considering the
deformation as stress assisted and thermally activated
process. Hence, at high strain rates and low testing

Fig. 4 SEM micrographs for the whole surface of: a SAC355 solder and their corresponding EDS curve and b SAC composite solder and their
EDS curve

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(a)

Cu6Sn5

Ag3Sn

(b)

- Sn

Fig. 5 SEM micrographs showing the IMCs and the corresponding EDS curves in a SAC355 solder and b SAC355 composite solder alloys

temperature the yield stress increases due to limited time

for the motion of dislocations as well as the lower thermally activated dislocation motion. This makes it more
difficult for other dislocations to cut through the matrix of
the material. Increasing the deformation temperature will
promote the rearrangement of the dense dislocation networks formed by strain hardening into simple and less
mixed networks. This reduces the lattice energy and,
therefore, it is not surprising to observe lower values of the
yield stress at higher deformation temperatures, since dislocations have more and more freedom (more energetic) to
move and overcome obstacles through matrix. From the
obtained results, values of ry0.2 for the SAC355 solder
alloy exhibited lower than those of the composite solder
one. This is explicable since the microstructure of the
composite solder alloy is characterized by the existence of
finely dispersed particles of the IMCs besides the nano-sized

ZnO particles in the Sn matrix which can act as pinning

centers for the mobile dislocations.
3.4 Role of the nano-sized ZnO particles in the tensile
response of the SAC355 composite solder alloy
It is known that improvement of solder reliability in electronic components is related to its mechanical strength and
thermal properties. So, the effect of microstructure, which
vary with composition, temperature and strain rate during
the life of the component must be predictable. In order to
precisely evaluate the influence of nano-sized ZnO particles
on the microstructure and tensile strength of the solidified
solder we will look back at the SEM micrographs shown in
Figs. 4 and 5. As has been discussed before; addition of
small percentage of nano-sized ZnO particles resulted in
refinement of microstructure of the near eutectic SAC355

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Fig. 6 a Representative stress

strain curves showing the effect
of: a strain rate at a constant
testing temperature as indicated
and b testing temperature at
constant strain rate as.
Indicated, for both SAC355
(solid lines) and SAC355
composite solders (dashed
lines)

Solid lines: SAC

Dash lines:SAC+ZnO
60

(a)

Stress (MPa)

(3)

(3)
(2)

40

(2)
(1)

(1)

-1

(sec ):

(1):
(2):
(3):
(4):

(4)

(4)
50

T testing = 298 K

-4

1.7 x10
-4
3.8 x10
-4
7.4 x10
-3
1 x10

30

20

10

0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

0.35

Strain

Solid lines: SAC

Dash lines:SAC+ZnO

(b)

60

-4

=7.4 x10

-1

sec

(1)
(1)

50

Stress (MPa)

(2)
40

Testing temperature:
(1): 298 K
(2): 323 K
(3): 348 K
(4): 373 K

(2)
(3)
(3)

(4)

30

(4)
20

10

0
0.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

Strain

Solid lines: SAC

Dash lines:SAC+ZnO

60

298 K

55

323 K

UTS (MPa)

50
45

348 K

40

373 K
35
30
25
0.0002

0.0004

0.0006
.

0.0008

0.0010

0.0012

-1

(Sec )

Fig. 7 Relation between the strain rate e_ and ultimate tensile strength
(rUTS) for both SAC355 (solid lines) and SAC355 composite solder
alloys (dashed lines)

123

composite solder which appeared as network eutectic areas

contained the IMCs Ag3Sn, Cu6Sn5 and the nano-sized ZnO
particles. This refinement may be attributed to the adsorption of the nano-sized ZnO particles with high surface free
energy on the solidified grain surfaces through the matrix
during solidification process. The existence of such adsorbed elements decreases the surface energy of the IMC and
subsequently decreases the growth velocity of these IMC
particles [14, 19]. For SAC355 composite solder, sizes
of the IMC particles Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 are ranged from 1
to *2 lm and from 2 to *5 lm, respectively, as evaluated from electron micrographs. These mean values are
much larger than those of the nano-sized ZnO particles
(*0.066 lm). Experimental results here indicated that the
existence of such nano-sized particles refines the IMCs. The
proposed mechanism for the effect of nano-sized ZnO
particles on refinement of the Ag3Sn IMC can be summarized as follows: During the solidification process, nano-

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sized ZnO particles, which are mechanically dispersed in

the molten of SAC355 composite solder, are clinging to the
much larger-sized Ag3Sn particles just as spheres cling to a
plane. This can be simplified by treating the Ag3Sn crystal
surface as a plane and the nano-sized ZnO particles as
spheres. Accordingly adsorption of such nano-sized surface
active material can decrease the surface energy of the
Ag3Sn crystal [20, 21]. From this standpoint, the obtained
microstructure of the SAC355 composite solder can reflect
itself on the tensile response and improvement the tensile
strength of the composite solder. This is because of the: (1)
pinning action of these nano-sized ZnO particles which
subsequently imped sliding of the grain boundaries as can
be deduced from Fig. 4, and (2) the dispersion strengthening mechanism of the matrix by finely dispersed IMC particles and the nano-sized ZnO particles [10, 13, 15]. The
above interpretation was confirmed by Yu et al. [21] which
reported finding nano-size Ag3Sn particles on the Cu6Sn5
IMC surface in SAC solder; existence of these nano-sized
particles would decrease the interfacial energy and consequently suppress the growth of the Cu6Sn5 IMC. Also, Liu
et al. [22] have found that the adsorption of nano-sized
Ag3Sn particles occurs during the solidification of SAC.
This adsorption would decrease the surface energy of the
Cu6Sn5 IMC and retard the growth of the whole IMC layer
[21].
From the above analysis, the apparent strengthening
effect of the nano-sized ZnO particles can be attributed to
their suppressing effect on the growth of the overall IMC
particles. This means that these IMCs play the role of a
secondary reinforcing phase and the enhancement of the
tensile strength showed good correlation with the composites microstructure and agree with the theoretical prediction from dispersion strengthening theory [10, 14]. This
suggests that addition of nano-sized ZnO particles to the
4.1
.

1.7 x10
-4
3.8 x10
-4
7.4 x10
-3
1 x10

(MPa)

3.9

UTS

e_ A rUTS 1=m expQ=RT

where A is a constant, R is the universal gas constant, m is the
strain rate sensitivity index and Q is the activation energy.
Figure 8 shows the relation between lnrUTS and 1000/T for
both the SAC355 and composite solder alloys. From slopes
of the straight lines obtained in Fig. 8, activation energies of
0.57 eV is obtained for both SAC355 and SAC355 composite solder alloys. This value was found to be close to those
reported for the dislocation motion mechanism in Sn-based
alloys and was found to be in agreement with those obtained
in other researches [2426]. On the other hand, the present Q
value did not affect by the existence of the nano-sized ZnO
particles indicating that both solder alloys have the same rate
controlling mechanism.

4 Conclusions
Effect of nano-sized ZnO particles on thermal, microstructure and tensile properties of Sn3.5 wt% Ag
0.5 wt% Cu (SAC355) solder alloy was studied. Some
important conclusions are summarized as follows:

-4

4.0

Ln

-1

(sec ):

SAC solder makes composite solder joints to be more

efficient in reducing the growth of the overall IMC particles at the temperature used in this study.
It is generally known that, additions of second-phase
particles can affect the distance that dislocations move
between obstacles and the forces that cause them to overcome these obstacles. However, several activated processes
can occur in particle-strengthened materials, such as particle by-pass by dislocation climb, Orowan by-pass, and
attractive interactions between dislocations and particles.
In lead-free solder alloys that strained at temperatures
greater than half of the melting temperature, the strain rate
e_ and rUTS may be related to the testing temperature with
the help of the kinetic rate equation [16, 23].

3.8

1.
2.

3.7
3.6
3.5

3.

3.4

Q= 0.57 eV

3.3

4.
0.29

0.30

0.31

0.32

0.33

0.34

0.35

0.36

0.37

0.38

-1

1000/T (K )

Fig. 8 Relation between LnrUTS and (1000/T (K)) for both SAC355
(solid lines) and SAC355 composite solder alloys (dashed lines)

5.

Addition of nano-sized ZnO particles to SAC355

solder alloy slightly increased the melting temperature.
Microstructure investigations revealed that addition of
nano-sized ZnO particles to SAC355 solder inhibited
the growth of the grain size as well as the IMCs Ag3Sn
and Cu6Sn5 which subsequently reinforced the strength
of the SAC355 solder.
Tensile tests revealed that addition of nano-sized ZnO
particles increased the strength of the SAC355 composite solder.
Increasing strain rate resulted in increasing the tensile
strength while increasing the testing temperature
decreased it.
Addition of nano-sized ZnO particles will allow the
use of SAC355 composite lead-free solder alloy, to be

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J Mater Sci: Mater Electron (2013) 24:32103218

consistent with the conditions of usage for conventional SAC solder alloys and to overcome the serious
problem of the excessive growth of IMCs and the
formation of microvoids in the SAC Pb-free solder
alloys.

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