Calorimetric measurements of Ga–In, Ga–Sn, and In–Sn binary alloy systems as sustainable lead-free solder alternatives

Abstract

The main objective in exploring a lead-free solder system comprising Gallium, Indium, and Tin lies in the desire to mitigate health hazards related to lead exposure. This research aims to substitute hazardous lead-based solder with a safer alternative due to the non-toxic nature without compromising the other properties. In this study, we investigated the partial and integral enthalpy of mixing for Gallium–Indium (Ga–In), Gallium–Tin (Ga–Sn), and Indium–Tin (In–Sn) binary alloy systems by the help of drop calorimeter at different temperatures of 673 K, 723 K, and 773 K. The results demonstrate that the enthalpy of mixing exhibits certain variations with temperature and composition, providing insights into the interatomic interactions between the constituent elements in the alloy systems. Endothermic enthalpies of mixing were obtained for the Ga–Sn and Ga–In system but slightly exothermic nature was observed for In–Sn system. After getting enthalpy data from the experiments, a Redlich–Kister polynomial fitting was employed to accurately describe the binary interactions within each alloy system. The variation of enthalpy of mixing was found to be temperature dependent for the Ga–In and Ga–Sn system but temperature independency was observed in In–Sn system. Binary interaction parameters for the Ga–Sn, Ga–In and In–Sn were determined at different temperatures. It was observed that interaction parameters are temperature dependent for the Ga–In and Ga–Sn system and independent for the In–Sn system. Comparison of partial molar and integral molar enthalpies of mixing obtained from this study with the literature was attempted. It was found that the results obtained in this study show very good agreement with the data available in literature. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.