Influence of brazing conditions on the strength of brazed joints of alumina dispersion-strengthened copper to 316 stainless steel

Brazing of alumina dispersion-strengthened copper (DS Cu) to 316 stainless steel were conducted in order to investigate the influence of filler metals and brazing conditions on the joint strength. The brazing were performed with a silver-base (BAg-8) and three kinds of gold-base (BAu-2,4,11) filler metals with varying brazing joint clearance and brazing time. The filler metal had a greater effect on the joint strength than the brazing joint clearance and brazing time. The joint with BAu-2 was superior to the joint with other filler metals. The tensile strength of the joint with BAu-2 was as large as that of DS Cu, however, the Charpy and low cycle fatigue strength were lower than those of DS Cu. The DS Cu melted near the brazed zone, consequently recrystallization and agglomeration of alumina occurred in the diffusion layer for all filler metals. The grain size after the recrystallization was small in order of BAu-2, BAu-4 and BAu-11, that was in accordance with the order of the brazing temperature. The excellent fracture strength for the joint with BAu-2 was attributed to the smallest grain size. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.