Thermal and electrical conductivities of silver–indium–tin alloys Original Research Article

The variations of thermal conductivity with temperature for the Ag–[x] wt% Sn–20 wt% In alloys (x=8, 15, 35, 55 and 70) were measured using a radial heat flow apparatus. From the graphs of thermal conductivity versus temperature, the thermal conductivities of solid phases at their melting temperature for the Ag–[x] wt% Sn–20 wt% In alloys (x=8, 15, 35, 55 and 70) were found to be 46.9±3.3, 53.8±3.8, 61.2±4.3, 65.1±4.6 and 68.1±4.8 W/Km, respectively. The variations of electrical conductivity of solid phases versus temperature for the same alloys were determined from the Wiedemann–Franz equation using the measured values of thermal conductivity. From the graphs of electrical conductivity versus temperature, the electrical conductivities of the solid phases at their melting temperatures for the Ag–[x] wt% Sn–20 wt% In alloys (x=8, 15, 35, 55 and 70) alloys were obtained to be 0.036, 0.043, 0.045, 0.046 and 0.053 (×108/Ωm), respectively. Dependencies of the thermal and electrical conductivities on the composition of Sn in the Ag–Sn–In alloys were also investigated. According to present experimental results, the thermal and electrical conductivities for the Ag–[x] wt% Sn–20 wt% In alloys linearly decrease with increasing the temperature and increase with increasing the composition of Sn.