Whenever someone asks me what I am researching for my graduate studies I tend to tell them that it has to do with “the development of lead-free solders for using in the electronics industry”. I also throw a little addendum onto the end of that my explanation by saying “but it’s a little more complicated than that”. If the person continues to ask me questions about my work I like to tell them the title of the paper I presented at the ASM International Materials Solutions conference in Indianapolis last November. The title of my presentation and paper was “Thermal Analysis of Transient Liquid Phase Sintered Cu-Sn and Cu-Sn-Bi Powder Alloys” (try saying that 3 times fast). If that doesn’t scare them away and keep them from asking more questions then I know they are truly interested, and if it does scare them away I really can’t blame them 🙂
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When I saw a title like that, the librarian in me would be intrigued to classify it, but most of the time, the procrastinator in me would get the better of me 🙂
It does sound very complex and mind boggling. 🙂
We have been looking into this on the net. I’ve realized that it is difficult to search for information on things that you do not understand.
However, I now know what sintering is, and what Cu, Sn, and Bi stand for. (My chemistry is a little rusty…)
Now I just need to know what a Transient Liquid Phase is…8^)