Vacuum control for brazing stainless steel
System controls outgassing, thus reducing vaporization of braze-alloy and release-agent components, and improving braze quality.
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System controls outgassing, thus reducing vaporization of braze-alloy and release-agent components, and improving braze quality.
Aluminum brazed titanium (ABTi) structures were evaluated during prolonged exposure to extreme environments: elevated temperature exposure to airline service fluids, hydraulic fluid, and seawater, followed by laboratory corrosion tests. Solid-face and perforated face honeycomb sandwich panel specimens, stressed panel assemblies, and faying surface brazed joints were tested. The corrosion resistance of ABTi is satisfactory for commercial airline service. Unprotected ABTi proved inherently resistant to attack by all of the extreme service aircraft environments except: seawater at 700 K (800 F) and above, dripping phosphate ester hydraulic fluid at 505 K (450 F), and a marine environment at ambient temperature. The natural oxides and deposits present on titanium surfaces in airline service provide protection against hot salt corrosion pitting. Coatings are required to protect titanium dripping phosphate ester fluid at elevated temperatures and to protect exposed acoustic honeycomb parts against corrosion in a marine environment.
Brazing furnace utilizing partial-vacuum technique reduces tooling requirements and produces better bond. Benefit in that partial vacuum helps to dissociate metal oxides that inhibit metal flow and eliminates heavy tooling required to hold parts together during brazing.
Inexpensive inert-atmosphere shielding protects vacuum brazing-furnace components that are likely to spring leak. Pipefittings, gages, and valves are encased in transparent plastic shroud inflated with argon. If leak develops, harmless argon will enter vacuum chamber, making it possible to finish ongoing brazing or heat treatment before shutting down for repair.
Density, dc electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, and linear thermal expansion are measured for arc-melted rod-shaped samples of binary eutectics of Zr, Hf, Ru, Nb, Ir, Mo, Ta, Os, Re, and W selected as very-low-pressure braze fillers for thermionic converters. The first two properties are measured at 296 K for Zr-21.7 at% Ru, Zr-13 wt% W, Zr-19 wt% W, Zr-22.3 at% Nb, Nb-66.9 at% Ru, Hf-25.3 wt% Re, Zr-25.7 at% Ta, Hf-22.5 at% W, and Nb-35 wt% Mo. The last property is measured from 293 K to 2/3 melting point for specified alloys of different compositions. Resistivities of 0.000055 to 0.000181 ohm-cm are observed with the alloys having resistivities about ten times that of the less resistive constituent metal and about three times that of the more resistive constituent metal, except for Zr-19 wt% W and Nb-35 wt% Mo (greater resistivities). Thermal expansion coefficients vary from 0.000006 to 0.0000105/K. All brazes exhibit linear thermal expansion near that of their constituent metals.
One RF generator is controlled from two independent work stations with aid of RF switch and simple control boxes. Brazing may be stopped manually or automatically by external brazing-temperature controller or timer in RF switch housing. Switch is air-operated with water-cooled contacts. If switch loses air pressure, generator stops transmitting power. Time-shared outlet increases utilization and productivity of costly RF generator.
Fluxless brazing is used in fabricating aluminum structural panels that withstand high internal pressure. Aluminum sheet of structural thickness with 4045 aluminum/silicon-braze-alloy cladding is brazed to corrugated "fin stock" having channels 0.001 inch (0.03mm) high by same width. Process is carried out in an inert (argon) atmosphere in a retort furnace. Filler bars are used in some channels to prevent fin stock from collapsing as pressure is applied.
The long-term service evaluation of two aluminum-brazed titanium (ABTi) honeycomb flight spoilers was concluded. The two spoilers had about 7.5 years of commercial flight experience on All Nippon Airways Model 737 aircraft. All Nippon Airways was selected because Japan has one of the most severe marine-industrial environments in the world. The results indicated that both flight spoilers still had the same load-carrying capability as when they were originally installed. No direct evidence of any corrosion was observed on either spoiler. Another significant accomplishment of this effort was the development of a braze design for efficiently distributing point loads from the fittings and skin into the honeycomb core.
Vibration-induced interference fringes reveal locations of defects. Holographic apparatus used to view object while vibrated ultrasonically. Interference fringes in hologram reveal brazing defects. Holographic technique locates small voids in large brazed joints. Identifies unbrazed regions 1 in. to second power (6 cm to the second power) or less in area.
Method of deadweight loading for vacuum-furnace brazing improves quality of joint, increases yield, and reduces costs. In improved method, plates weighted with heavy stainless-steel blocks. Blocks act independently and are immune to distortion. Besides being uniformly distributed, force applied to plates larger and repeatable from one brazing operation to next. Larger blocks used on edges of plates, where more thermal mass needed to reduce differences between temperatures of interior and edge as temperature of furnace varied.
Hand control proven superior to foot control. Hand-operated switch added to hand-held brazing-alloy-paste dispenser yields improved, more consistent brazing-alloy beads. Dispenser used to apply paste between adjacent tubes in heat exchanger. Switch reliable and safe, and removed and reattached easily.
Brazing effective technique for joining ordinary structural metals to brittle, low-thermal-expansion refractory metals. Specifically, brazing process established for joining copper or nickel flanges to ends of vacuum-plasma-sprayed tungsten tubes and for joining stainless-steel flanges to ends of tubes made of alloy of molybdenum with 40 percent of rhenium.
This paper presents results of the second part of an on-going effort to gain better understanding of defect tolerance in braze joints. In the first part of this three-part series, we mechanically tested and modeled the strength of the lap joints as a function of the overlap distance. A failure criterion was established based on the zone damage theory, which predicts the dependence of the lap joint shear strength on the overlap distance, based on the critical size of a finite damage zone or an overloaded region in the joint. In this second part of the study, we experimentally verified the applicability of the damage zone criterion on prediction of the shear strength of the lap joint and introduced controlled flaws into the lap joints. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the lap joint strength as a function of flaw size and its location through mechanical testing and nonlinear finite element analysis (FEA) employing damage zone criterion for definition of failure. The results obtained from the second part of the investigation confirmed that the failure of the ductile lap shear brazed joints occurs when the damage zone reaches approximately 10% of the overlap width. The same failure criterion was applicable to the lap joints containing flaws.
The Ti-metal/C-C composite joints were formed by reactive brazing with three commercial brazes, namely, Cu-ABA, TiCuNi, and TiCuSil. The joint microstructures were examined using optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The results of the microstructure analysis indicate solute redistribution across the joint which led to good wetting, spreading, and metallurgical bond formation via interdiffusion.
The Ti-metal/C-C composite joints were formed by reactive brazing with three commercial brazes, namely, Cu-ABA, TiCuNi, and TiCuSil. The joint microstructures were examined using optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The results of the microstructure analysis indicate solute redistribution across the joint and possible metallurgical bond formation via interdiffusion, which led to good wetting and spreading.
Advanced carbon carbon composites were joined to copper-clad molybdenum (Cu/Mo) using four active metal brazes containing Ti (Cu ABA, Cusin-1 ABA, Ticuni, and Ticusil) for potential use in thermal management applications. The brazed joints were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and Knoop microhardness measurements across the joint region. Metallurgically sound C-C/Cu/Mo joints, devoid of interfacial cracks formed in all cases. The joint interfaces were preferentially enriched in Ti, with Cu ABA joints exhibiting the largest interfacial Ti concentrations. The microhardness measurements revealed hardness gradients across the joint region, with a peak hardness of 300-350 KHN in Cusin-1 ABA and Ticusil joints and 200-250 KHN in Cu ABA and Ticuni joints, respectively.
An improved assembly for inert-gas shielding of a metallic joint is designed to be useable during any of a variety of both laser-based and traditional welding and brazing processes. The basic purpose of this assembly or of a typical prior related assembly is to channel the flow of a chemically inert gas to a joint to prevent environmental contamination of the joint during the welding or brazing process and, if required, to accelerate cooling upon completion of the process.
A special double-wall container and a process for utilizing the container are being developed to enable (1) acquisition of a sample of material in a dirty environment that may include a biological and/or chemical hazard; (2) sealing a lid onto the inner part of the container to hermetically enclose the sample; (3) separating the resulting hermetic container from the dirty environment; and (4) bringing that hermetic container, without any biological or chemical contamination of its outer surface, into a clean environment. The process is denoted S(exp 3)B (separation, seaming, and sealing using brazing) because sealing of the sample into the hermetic container, separating the container from the dirty environment, and bringing the container with a clean outer surface into the clean environment are all accomplished simultaneously with a brazing operation.