Thermal, electrical, microstructure and microhardness properties of the eutectic Sn-3.5 wt % Ag alloy

The variation of thermal conductivity with temperature for Sn-3.5wt.%Ag eutectic alloy was measured with a radial heat flow apparatus. The thermal conductivity of the solid phase and temperature coefficient were also found to be 84.60 ± 0.09 WK−1 m−1 and 5.92× 10−4 K−1, respectively. The values of enthalpy of fusion (∆H ) and the specific heat (Cp) were also determined by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) from heat flow curves during the transformation from eutectic solid to eutectic liquid. The variation of electrical conductivity with temperature for Sn-3.5wt.%Ag eutectic alloy was determined from the Wiedemann-Franz law by using the measured values of thermal conductivity. The microhardness of Sn-3.5wt.%Ag eutectic alloy was measured at approximately 5 different points with Vickers microhardness device. The microstructure of Sn-3.5wt.%Ag eutectic alloy was investigated by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. K e y w o r d s: metals & alloys, electrical resistivity/conductivity, microstructure, thermodynamics, hardness test