Lead-free solders have become a main focus of the electronic industry in
recent years, because of the high toxicity of lead. Alloys based on the
Sn-Bi system figure as potential replacements for Sn-Pb alloys in soldering
due to favorable properties and low cost. One of the main advantages of
these alloys are low melting temperatures, while additional advantages
include good compatibility with substrates, low process temperature, high
reliability, and potential applications in conjunction with reduced graphene
oxide nanosheets as thermal interface materials. In this paper,
characterization of microstructural and thermal properties as well as
hardness measurements of seven alloys of different Sn-Bi compositions are
performed. Structural properties of the samples were analyzed using optical
microscopy and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Thermal conductivity of the samples was investigated
using the xenon-flash method, and phase transition temperatures were
measured using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis.