Influence of Cyclic Strain-Hardening Exponent on Fatigue Ductility Exponent for a Sn-Ag-Cu Micro-Solder Joint

The fatigue ductility exponent in the Coffin–Manson law for a Sn-Ag-Cu micro-solder joint was investigated in terms of the cyclic strain-hardening property and the inelastic strain energy in fracture for isothermal fatigue. The fatigue ductility exponent was found to increase with temperature and holding time under strain at high temperature. This exponent is closely related to the cyclic strain-hardening exponent, which displays the opposite behavior in that it decreases with increasing temperature and with coarsening of intermetallic compound particles while holding under strain at high temperature. This result differs from the creep damage mechanism (grain boundary fracture), which is a primary reason for the significant reduction in fatigue life for all strain ranges for large-size specimens.