Study on the Soldering of Off-eutectic Pb-Sn Solders in Partial Melting State

This paper introduces the partial melting process for solder application and characterization of its possibility using off-eutectic Pb-Sn alloy. In order to show that the liquid phase in the semi-liquid state maintains the wettability as the single-phase liquid, the wetting balance test are conducted with varying temperatures and compositions. The results are then compared with the surface tension of liquid, both measured and calculated, to examine the correlation. The results from this investigation indicate that the partial melting can yield satisfactory solder joints as long as the liquid phase acquires sufficient chemical activity. At a condition where the partial melting is effective, a direct correlation between the wettability and the surface tension is found to exist. All alloys are found to show a reasonable wettability in semi-liquid state.