Being arecent addition to the PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) solder team at Indium Corporation, it has been eye opening to see how much change is possible in a field that from the outside might not seem to have as much going on.
One of the most exciting areas, which I am getting to see unfold before my very eyes is low temperature alloy development. Many of my coworker'sblog posts are amazing resources for all the cool applications for low temperature technologies:
- Gallium – seeJim Hisert's blogs on cutting edge liquid metal technology
- Bismuth alloys – seeEric Bastow's video on neat bismuth properties
- Indium alloys!- see article helping with low temp solder selection
However, something really new that is coming out of Indium Corporation's R&D group is called Durafuse® LT – a method of combining the low melting temperature of indium-based alloys with the high reliability of a SAC alloy!Solder alloy development is a balancing act between desireable and undesireable properties for each application – and our research team does a great job of that. What our researchers discovered is that when the indium alloy starts melting well before the SAC alloy and fuses with the SAC alloy powder, itform a continuous metal joint that is both strong and durable.
Also for a bit of linguistic fun: The nameDurafuse® LTis derived from Dura or Durable (Definition: able to withstand wear, pressure, or damage) and Fuse (Definition: to join or blend to form a single entity).This perfectly explains the alloy system in that it is fusing 2 different alloys together to form a durable and reliable low temperature solder joint that can withstand drop shock forces.It is also fusing the components to the circuit board in a lasting (or "durable") way, which is essentially the purpose of solder!
