PNNL

Abstract

Silver-copper oxide based reactive air brazing (RAB) technique was developed as an alternative technique for joining complex-shaped ceramic parts. To examine the feasibility of this braze for various high temperature applications, brazed alumina joints were exposed to oxidizing and reducing atmospheres at high temperature. Brazed joints, which were exposed to 800ºC in air for 100 h, maintained good bend strength similar to the as-brazed samples. Microstructural analysis also revealed no significant change after exposing the joints to the oxidizing atmosphere at high temperature. This result indicate the excellent high-temperature tolerance of the Ag-CuO based braze in oxidizing atmosphere. On the other hand, heat treatment of the brazed alumina joints in hydrogen at 800°C for 100 h resulted in significant decrease in bend strength. SEM analysis on fracture surfaces showed that the main fracture mechanism of the samples exposed to the reducing atmosphere was the debonding between the braze and the alumina substrate. This result indicates that the bond strength of the braze/alumina interface is sensitive to the atmosphere where the brazed joint is exposed. CuO in the braze was also reduced to Cu and diffused into the Ag matrix. This reduction of CuO created the pores at the interface as well as in the braze matrix where CuO was originally located, especially at a high CuO content.