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Solder Alloys: Physical and Mechanical Properties

Paul V. Bolotoff
 
Release date: April, 2010

Contents:

1. Physical and Mechanical Properties of Solder Alloys
2. Detailed Descriptions of Solder Alloys (coming soon)

 
There are many kinds of solder alloys. Some of them are used widely for general purposes, some of them fit very specific needs. Some are inexpensive relatively, so you can buy a 100g spool of them for a few bucks or euros. Some are very expensive though. A wrong choice may cost you time, money and even more. To make a long story short, once upon a time I've decided to make some kind of a reference table on the most important solder alloys for my very own needs and eventually released it on the Net.
 
This reference covers solder alloys which feature melting points from about 50°C to about 400°C, both lead based and lead free. They're also known as soft solders. Most of them are patent free. The information below has been gathered mostly from product data sheets of various manufacturers such as Indium Corp. of America, Alpha Metals (Cookson Group), Stannol and others. The alloys are labelled by their metal percentages, but there also commercial and historical names included. Those commercial alloy numbers are shared widely among manufacturers. For instance, Indalloy 281, Ostalloy 281 and AsarcoLo 281 refer to the same alloy of 58% bismuth and 42% tin. In this case, 281 stands for the melting point in °F, but such a number may have a different meaning for other alloys.
 
About melting points, some alloys have a single one like regular metals. In other words, when a certain temparature is passed, an alloy turns completely from one state (phase) to another, i.e. from solid to liquid or vice versa. Such alloys are called eutectic. Most alloys have two melting points called solidus and liquidus. When temperature is below solidus, an alloy is in solid state. When temperature is above liquidus, it's in liquid state. When temperature is between solidus and liquidus, an alloy is in so called plastic state due to some liquid and solid content present at the same time.

 
Physical and Mechanical Properties of Solder Alloys

 
Solder Alloy Melting Point, °C
solidus / liquidus
Density,
g/cm³
Electrical
Resistivity,
µΩ⋅m
Thermal
Conductivity,
W/m⋅K
Tensile
Strength
at Break,
kgf/cm²
Tensile
Elongation
at Break,
%
Brinell
Hardness,
HB
alloys of tin (Sn) with silver (Ag) and / or copper (Cu)
Sn96.5Ag3.5
(alloy #121)
221 / 221 7.37 0.123 55 580 35 15
Sn95Ag05
(alloy #132)
221 / 240 7.40 0.137 - 565 30 14
Sn90Ag10
(alloy #156)
221 / 295 7.51 - - - - -
Sn99.3Cu0.7
(alloy #244)
227 / 227 7.31 0.126 66 300 21 9
Sn97Cu03
(alloy #160)
227 / 300 7.32 0.118 - - - -
Sn99.2Ag0.1Cu0.7
(SAC0107)
217 / 228 7.32 - - - - -
Sn99Ag0.3Cu0.7
(alloy #263 or SAC0307)
217 / 228 7.33 - - 300 22 14
Sn98.5Ag0.8Cu0.7
(SAC0807)
216 / 225 7.33 0.140 - 310 21 16
Sn98.5Ag1.0Cu0.5
(alloy #258 or SAC105)
215 / 227 7.32 0.133 60 400 13 13
Sn97.1Ag2.6Cu0.3
(SAC263)
217 / 224 7.36 0.132 - - - -
Sn96.5Ag3.0Cu0.5a
(alloy #256 or SAC305)
217 / 220 7.38 0.132 58 500 19 15
Sn95.5Ag4.0Cu0.5
(alloy #246 or SAC405)
217 / 220 7.44 0.132 62 530 17 15
Sn95.5Ag3.8Cu0.7b
(alloy #241 or SAC387)
217 / 220 7.44 0.132 60 600 16 15
alloys of tin (Sn) and lead (Pb) with or without silver (Ag)
Sn90Pb10
(alloy #118)
183 / 213 7.55 - - 490 40 -
Sn63Pb37
(alloy #106)
183 / 183 8.40 0.145 50 525 37 17
Sn62.5Pb36.1Ag1.4
(alloy #104)
179 / 179 8.41 0.145 50 490 - 16
Sn60Pb40
(alloy #109)
183 / 191 8.50 0.153 49 535 40 16
Sn55Pb45
(alloy #113)
183 / 200 8.68 - - - - -
Sn50Pb50 or Pb50Sn50
(alloy #116)
183 / 212 8.87 0.158 48 420 35 14
Pb55Sn45 or Sn45Pb55
(alloy #125)
183 / 227 9.07 0.166 - - - -
Pb60Sn40 or Sn40Pb60
(alloy #130)
183 / 238 9.28 0.171 44 380 25 12
Pb65Sn35 or Sn35Pb65
(alloy #135)
183 / 247 9.50 0.176 - - - 12
Pb70Sn30 or Sn30Pb70
(alloy #141)
183 / 257 9.72 0.185 41 350 18 12
Pb75Sn25 or Sn25Pb75
(alloy #145)
183 / 268 9.96 0.194 - 240 53 11
Pb80Sn20 or Sn20Pb80
(alloy #149)
183 / 280 10.21 0.198 37 340 20 11
Pb85Sn15 or Sn15Pb85
(alloy #153)
183 / 288 10.70 - - 330 - 11
Pb88Sn10Ag02
(alloy #228)
267 / 290 10.75 0.203 27 230 42 -
Pb90Sn10 or Sn10Pb90
(alloy #159)
275 / 302 10.75 0.194 25 310 30 10
Pb92.5Sn05Ag2.5
(alloy #151)
287 / 296 11.02 0.200 - 295 - -
Pb95Sn05 or Sn05Pb95
(alloy #171)
308 / 312 11.06 0.196 23 280 45 8
Pb97.5Ag1.5Sn01
(alloy #165)
309 / 309 11.28 0.287 23 310 23 9
alloys of bismuth (Bi) and / or cadmium (Ca) with tin (Sb) and / or lead (Pb)
Bi58Sn42
(alloy #281)
138 / 138 8.56 0.383 19 565 55 23
Sn60Bi40
(alloy #281-338)
138 / 170 8.12 0.345 30 525 35 24
Bi55.5Pb44.5
(alloy #255)
124 / 124 10.44 0.431 4 450 38 15
Sn43Pb43Bi14
(alloy #97)
144 / 163 9.02 - - 450 41 -
Sn51.2Pb30.6Cd18.2
(alloy #181)
145 / 145 8.45 - 35 440 - -
alloys of indium (In) with lead (Pb) and / or tin (Sn) and / or silver (Ag)
In70Pb30
(alloy #204)
165 / 175 8.19 0.196 38 245 - -
In60Pb40
(alloy #205)
173 / 181 8.52 0.246 29 290 - -
In50Pb50 or Pb50In50
(alloy #7)
184 / 210 8.86 0.287 22 330 55 10
Pb60In40
(alloy #206)
197 / 231 9.30 0.332 19 350 - -
Pb75In25
(alloy #10)
240 / 260 9.97 0.375 18 385 48 10
Pb81In19
(alloy #150)
260 / 275 10.27 0.383 17 390 - -
Pb95In05
(alloy #11)
300 / 313 11.06 0.338 21 305 52 6
In52Sn48
(alloy #1E)
118 / 118 7.30 0.147 34 120 83 5
In50Sn50 or Sn50In50
(alloy #1)
118 / 125 7.30 0.147 34 120 83 5
In97Ag03
(alloy #290)
143 / 143 7.38 0.075 73 55 - 2
In90Ag10
(alloy #3)
143 / 237 7.54 0.078 67 115 61 3
In80Pb15Ag05
(alloy #2)
149 / 154 7.85 0.133 43 180 58 5
Pb90In05Ag05
(alloy #12)
290 / 310 11.00 0.308 25 405 23 9
Pb92.5In05Ag2.5
(alloy #164)
300 / 310 11.02 0.313 25 320 - -
Sn77.2In20Ag2.8
(alloy #227)
175 / 187 7.25 0.176 54 480 47 17
Sn37.5Pb37.5In25
(alloy #5)
134 / 181 8.42 0.221 23 370 101 10
Sn54Pb26In20
(alloy #230)
136 / 152 8.05 - - - - -
Sn70Pb18In12
(alloy #9)
154 / 167 7.79 0.141 45 375 136 12
low temperature alloys
In51.0Bi32.5Sn16.5
(alloy #19 or Field's alloy)
60 / 60 7.88 0.522 - 340 - 11
Bi50Pb26.7Sn13.3Cd10
(alloy #158 or Wood's alloy)
70 / 70 9.58 0.431 18 420 120 15
Bi52Pb30Sn18
(alloy #39 or Newton's alloy)
96 / 96 9.60 0.750 13 365 100 16
Bi50Pb28Sn22
(alloy #41 or Rose's alloy)
100 / 100 9.44 - - - - -
other alloys
Sn95Sb05
(alloy #133)
235 / 240 7.25 0.145 28 415 38 13
Sn91Zn09
(alloy #201)
199 / 199 7.27 0.115 61 560 33 22
Au80Sn20
(alloy #182 or Orotin)
280 / 280 14.51 - 57 2800 2 -
Au88Ge12
(alloy #183 or Georo)
356 / 356 14.67 - - 2150 1 -
Pb97.5Ag2.5
(alloy #161)
303 / 303 11.33 0.200 - 310 42 -
Pb94.5Ag5.5
(alloy #229)
304 / 365 11.35 0.287 23 310 - -
Pb85Sb10Sn05
(alloy #233)
245 / 255 10.36 0.287 - 390 4 -

In100
(pure indium)
157 / 157 7.31 0.0837 86 20 - 1
Sn100
(pure tin)
232 / 232 7.29 0.124 73 135 - 4
Bi100
(pure bismuth)
271 / 271 9.78 1.29 8 - - 7
Pb100
(pure lead)
327 / 327 11.34 0.218 35 125 55 4
Ag100
(pure silver)
960 / 960 10.49 0.0163 429 1480 50 25
Au100
(pure gold)
1064 / 1064 19.30 0.0221 318 1405 42 25
Cu100
(pure copper)
1085 / 1085 8.94 0.0172 401 2460 40 35

a) U.S. patent #5527628 issued on the 18-June-1996 to SMIC (Senju Metal Industry Co.), will expire internationally on the 24-Feb-2015;
b) U.S. patent #4929423 issued on the 29-May-1990 to Cookson Group, expired internationally on the 31-Mar-2009;
 
NOTES:
1. Electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity are evaluated usually at 20°C and 85°C respectively.
2. Electrical resistivity is inverse to electrical conductivity.
3. Electrical conductivity is often expressed in % IACS which stands for International Annealed Copper Standard.
100% IACS is electrical conductivity of annealed copper which equals to 58.0 × 106 S⋅m-1.
4. Tensile strength in kgf/cm² may be converted to psi (pounds per square inch) by multiplying with 14.22.

Copyright (c) Paul V. Bolotoff, 2010. All rights reserved.
 
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