Abstract
The morphology of the Sn-Sb alloys electrodeposited from 1-hydroxyethane-1, 1-diphosphonic acid solutions has been studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Increasing the Sb content of alloys tends to make the surface morphology fine and amorphous. A cross-section of the electrodeposited Sn-27wt%Sb alloy revealed a network structure based on a Sn-37wt%Sb alloy phase and β-Sn phase. The Sn-40wt%Sb alloy was found to consist of homogeneous microcrystals, while the Sn-63wt%Sb alloy consisted of two phases of a SnSb intermetallic compound (60wt%Sb) and an amorphous structure (82wt%Sb). The results of XRD and EDX analyses showed that as-plated Sn-Sb alloys were a single β-Sn phase at a Sb content of 3-7wt%, β-Sn+SnSb phases at 10-36wt%, a single SnSb phase at 40-60wt%, and SnSb+amorphous phases at 60-75wt%. As-plated alloys containing 75-85wt%Sb had an amorphous structure, and alloys annealed at above 160°C showed the presence of SnSb+Sb phases.
