Interfacial Design for Joining Technologies: An Historical Perspective

This paper gives an historic perspective of the concept of “Interfacial Design” in joined (e.g. soldered, brazed, diffusion bonded) assemblies. During the course of history, the awareness grew that the interface in a material joint can be perceived at different length scales. With the continuing development of joining materials and technologies, it became evident that the performance of assemblies is critically dependent on the structure and composition of the multiple internal interfaces in the material joints. Resulting trends in the microstructural design of soldering, brazing, and other bonding materials by smart engineering of internal interfaces, as driven by increasingly complex technological requirements, are briefly addressed.