Electronics solder

[Lizard333]

I have a buddy that works at a chip plant and was able to get some folder they use to make the connections on the bottom of the boards. I'm pretty sure that they don't use lead/tin, so I'm thinking its just tin. He thinks their might be silver in it as well. This chunk came off the line when it came down for work. It is three feet long and weighs thirty pounds.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/05/01/8ydy8yze.jpg

It's a little blurry, but I'm thinking I scored!!

Any idea if this is just tin?

[dbosman]

Cast a bullet and weigh it.

[Lizard333]

Alrighty. I used a 9mm mold. Pure lead slug weighs in at 127 gns. Mystery metal is 95 gns. I know it isn't zinc because it melted pretty easy. I have a Cabin tree tester and the hardness and the slug tested at 28-29.

[cbrick]

Could be silver in it huh? Dunno but silver solder melts at a much higher temp than Pb/Sn solder and I kinda thought that in electronics higher heat was a no-no. Interesting though. Do you have any idea what temp it melted at?

Rick

[Sensai]

Ours is 62-36-2, tin, lead, silver. The leadfree compliant stuff has no lead, but has antimony. I don't know the formula.

[lavenatti]

I have some Kester lead free solder. It's 96.5% tin, 3% silver and 0.5% copper.

[Lizard333]

I don't know if I have a way of testing melt temp. Can I use a inferred thermometer? Pretty sure it will go up to 600f. I have a nice thermometer that I use when casting, but for now, I using a small amount. Until I can figure out what it is.

[imashooter2]

Your buddy should be able to ask what it is at work. I'm certain that they only buy a specific alloy for their tanks. That said, I would think that these days, no lead is allowed in the plant. So I would call it 95% tin and forget about what else might be in it. At the levels we add tin, any of the elements in the remaining 5% would only be trace in the casting pot.

[NewbieDave007]

As most of you know I’m new to this and have no experience to pull from, so I just crunched numbers for some of the stuff that was listed. Findings are below (hopefully it is easy enough to follow). If anyone has other possible mixes I can calc them out and see what that mix should drop at to compare it to the 95 grain mystery metal. From what I’m finding Silver melts at 1763°F and Copper at 1984°F.

Slug Weights
Lead slug=127 grains (Vol. of slug= 0.0443 in3)
Mistory slug= 95 grains
Tin= 81.59 grains
Antimony= 74.85 grains
Zinc= 79.88 grains
Silver= 117.58 grains
Copper= 100.03 grains

Desity
Lead= 2868.29 grains/in3 or 11.342 grams/cm3
Tin= 1842.82 grains/in3 or 7.287 grams/cm3
Antimony= 1690.58 grains/in3 or 6.685 grams/cm3
Zinc= 1804.12 grains/in3 or 7.134 grams/cm3
Silver= 2655.61 grains/in3 or 10.501 grams/cm3
Copper= 2259.08 grains/in3 or 8.933 grams/cm3

Assumption= 90% Tin 10% Lead
Slug weight= 86.14 grains
Assumption= 80% Tin 20% Lead
Slug weight= 90.68 grains
Assumption= 70% Tin 30% Lead
Slug weight= 95.22 grains

Assumption= 90% Tin 10% Silver
Slug weight= 85.19 grains
Assumption= 80% Tin 20% Silver
Slug weight= 88.79 grains
Assumption= 70% Tin 30% Silver
Slug weight= 92.39 grains
Assumption= 60% Tin 40% Silver
Slug weight= 95.99 grains

Assumption= 62% Tin 36% Lead 2% Silver
Slug weight= 98.66 grains

Assumption= 96.5% Tin 3% Silver 0.5% Copper
Slug weight= 82.77 grains

Hopefully this helps.
Dave

[Lizard333]

So I'm going to treat this as 70% tin and 30% lead.

The silver content must just be trace.

Thanks Dave!!!

[NewbieDave007]

No worries. Math I'm good at, but all of this stuff I'm new to, so I will help where I can. Good luck and have fun.

[Geppetto]

Lizard,

PM incoming about testing the sample. I may be able to help you out.

Greg