Influence of temperature and strain rate on tensile properties of single walled carbon nanotubes reinforced Sn–Ag–Cu lead free solder alloy composites

The effect of temperature and strain rate on the tensile properties of Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu (SAC387) alloy as well as SAC387 alloy reinforced with two different weight percentages (wt.%) of SWCNT was investigated. It was found that addition of 0.05 wt.% SWCNT to SAC387 alloy results in an increase in yield and ultimate tensile strengths without affecting the total elongation at all temperatures and strain rates studied, although the increase in strength values at 75 °C was marginal. Further increasing the SWCNT to 0.1 wt.% did not result in any significant improvements in the strengths as compared to the composite containing 0.05 wt.% SWCNT. Temperature and strain rate were observed to have a significant effect on the strengths in both SAC387 alloy as well as the composites. Both the yield and ultimate tensile strengths were observed to decrease with increase in temperature and increase with increase in strain rates in SAC387 alloy as well as the composites. This behaviour was attributed to the competing effects of work hardening and dynamic recovery processes and the effect of temperature and strain rates on these processes.