A Study on the Evolution of the High Strain Rate Mechanical Properties of SAC105 Leadfree Alloy at High Operating Temperatures
Authors: Lall Pradeep , Yadav Vikas , Suhling Jeff , Locker David 
Published: November 2015

Electronics products may often be exposed to high temperature during storage, operation and handling in addition to high strain rate transient dynamic loads during drop-impact. Electronics subjected to drop-impact, shock and vibration may experience strain rates of 1–100 per sec. There are no material properties available in published literature at high strain rate at elevated temperature. High temperature and vibrations can contribute to the failures of electronic system. The reliability of electronic products can be improved through a thorough understanding of the weakest link in the electronic systems which is the solder interconnects. The solder interconnects accrue damage much faster when subjected to Shock and vibration at elevated temperatures. There is lack of fundamental understanding of reliability of electronic systems subjected to thermal loads. Previous studies have showed the effect of high strain rates and thermal aging on the mechanical properties of leadfree alloys including elastic modulus and the ultimate tensile strength. Extended period of thermal aging has been shown to affect the mechanical properties of lead free alloys including elastic modulus and the ultimate tensile strength at low strain rates representative of thermal fatigue [Lee 2012, Motalab 2012]. Previously, the microstructure, mechanical response and failure behavior of leadfree solder alloys when subjected to elevated isothermal aging and/or thermal cycling [Darveaux 2005, Ding 2007, Pang 2004] have been measured. Pang [1998] has showed that young’s modulus and yield stress of Sn-Pb are highly depending on strain rate and temperature. The ANAND viscoplastic constitutive model has been widely used to describe the inelastic deformation behavior of solders in electronic components. Previously, Mechanical properties of lead-free alloys, at different high strain rates (10, 35, 50, 75 /sec) and elevated temperature (25 C-125 C) for pristine samples have been studied [Lall 2012 and Lall 2014]. Previous researchers [Suh 2007 and Jenq 2009] have determined the mechanical properties of SAC105 at very high strain rate (Above 1000 per sec) using compression testing. But there is no data available in published literature at high strain rate and at elevated temperature for aged conditions. In this study, mechanical properties of lead free SAC105 has been determined for high strain rate at elevated temperature for aged samples. Effect of aging on mechanical properties of SAC105 alloy a high strain rates has been studied. Stress-Strain curves have been plotted over a wide range of strain rates and temperatures for aged specimen. Experimental data for the aged specimen has been fit to the ANAND’s viscoplastic model. SAC105 leadfree alloys have been tested at strain rates of 10, 35, 50 and 75 per sec at various operating temperatures of 50°C, 75°C, 100°C and 125°C. The test samples were exposed to isothermal aging conditions at 50°C for different aging time (30, 60, and 120 Days) before testing. Full-field strain in the specimen have been measured using high speed imaging at frame rates up to 75,000 fps in combination with digital image correlation. The cross-head velocity has been measured prior-to, during, and after deformation to ensure the constancy of cross-head velocity.