Will regular leaded(or non-leaded) solder stick to actual tin or tin foil? Does the tin have a low enough melting point that it'd melt along with the solder? Has anyone actually tried soldering copper to tin using regular solder?
(I tried googling, but everything I found seemed to be about tinning a soldering iron)
Edit: Note I was talking about the actual metal Tin. I realize that most "tin foil" is actually aluminum and you've given me some useful information about aluminum but what about actual tin?
Best Answer
Regular solder is a mixture of lead and tin, so chances are that, yeah it would stick to actual tin.
Be aware that most of what is today called 'tin foil' is really made of aluminum. You would have to work at it to find tin foil made of real tin.
Aluminum is notoriously difficult to solder to, almost but not quite impossible, in fact. Basically you have to exclude oxygen from the surface you intend to join, which is easier said than done.
As regards actual tin, you should be able to solder to that, since most common electronics solder incorporates tin as part of the alloy. Pure tin will melt at a higher temperature than solder, since the alloy has a lower melting point than any of the individual components, so the joint should actually be a solder joint and not a weld.