Microstructures and properties of Sn-Ag-Cu lead-free solder alloys containing La

Trace amounts of La were utilized to improve the melting behaviors, microstructures, tensile properties and microhardness of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu lead-free solder alloy. La has little effect on the melting behavior of Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu alloy according to the differential thermal analysis (DTA) tests. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that ss-Sn, Ag3Sn and Cu6Sn5 coexist in the as-cast solder alloys and LaSn3 phases emerge when adding 0.4% La. The microstructures modified by La are more uniform and much finer than that of baseline alloy, and the coarse LaSn3 particles with complex dendrites are observed by optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) when the addition of La is up to 0.4%. The composition of the LaSn3 phases is identified by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). There are considerable improvements in mechanical properties with 0.05% and 0.1% addition, but degenerations by adding 0.4%La. The Vickers microhardness of ss-Sn and eutectic area are both enhanced with the addition of La and the microhardness of LaSn3 is much larger than those of ss-Sn and eutectic area.