Many of the alloys we work with in our solder preform manufacturing operation can have various physical properties based on how we work with them. Transforming ingots of metal into precision preforms requires heat and pressure throughout multiple processes – this material stress changes the grain structure of most solders, possibly making them brittle. With pure indium this is not the case.
You can use this to your advantage: (This goes along with a post regarding the softness of indium) In applications where the softness of indium is critical, the fact that indium does not work harden means the metal will not become harder over time. In applications which involve vibration or thermal cycling, there is no concern over the bulk material properties changing.
This post is part of the “6 Strange Properties of Indium” series.