Factorial design and design of experiments for developing novel lead free solder alloy with Sn, Cu and Ni

Inherent toxicity makes lead a banned material in solder alloy making process. Lead-tin alloy was a favorable alloy used for soldering in electronic packaging manufacturers. As a result of the ban on lead, electronics package industries were looking for novel lead free alloys which can substitute the conventional Sn-Pb alloy. Many alloys were discovered by the scientists. None of them were able to substitute the Sn-Pb alloy and become the market leader. In this paper a new composition with Sn, Cu and Ni is made to analyze which can potentially replace the lead containing solder alloy. Using the design of experiments method, the optimized composition of Cu and Ni is predicted. The full factorial design of experiments with two replications is used to find the optimized composition. Melting temperature, contact angle and hardness were taken as the critical output parameters. Results obtained shows that the optimum composition of Cu and Ni are 1 and 1% by wt.