Alan Duckham

Room-temperature soldering with nanostructured foils

Self-propagating formation reactions in nanostructured multilayer foils provide rapid bursts of heat and can act as local heat sources to melt solder layers and join materials. This letter describes the room-temperature soldering of stainless steel specimens using freestanding, nanostructured Al/Ni foils. The products, heats, and velocities of the reactions are described, and the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the resulting joints are characterized. A tensile shear strength of 48 MPa was measured for the reactive foil joints, compared to 38 MPa for conventional joints. Both numerical predictions and infrared measurements show limited heat exposure to the components during reactive joining.

Joining of stainless-steel specimens with nanostructured Al/Ni foils

We describe the joining of stainless-steel specimens at room temperature using free-standing Al/Ni foils as local heat sources for melting AuSn solder layers. The foils contain many nanoscale layers of Al and Ni that react exothermically, generating a self-propagating reaction. The heats, velocities, and products of the reactions are described, and the microstructure and the mechanical properties of the resulting joints are characterized. Increasing the foil thickness, and thereby increasing the total heat released, can improve the strength of the joints until foil thickness reaches 40 μm. For thicker foils, the shear strength is almost constant at 48 MPa, compared to 38 MPa for conventional solder joints. The higher strength is due to finer microstructures in the solder layers of reactive joints. A numerical study of heat transfer during reactive joining and experimental results suggest that the solder layers need to melt completely and remain molten for at least 0.5 ms to form a strong joint.

Reactive nanostructured foil used as a heat source for joining titanium

We have joined titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) specimens at room temperature and in air by using free-standing nanostructured Al∕Ni multilayer foils to melt a silver-based braze. The foils are capable of undergoing self-sustaining exothermic reactions and thus act as controllable local heat sources. By systematically controlling the properties of the foils and by numerically modeling the reactive joining process, we are able to conclude that the temperatures reached by the foils during reaction are critical in determining the success of joining when using higher melting temperature braze layers.

Temperature dependent mechanical properties of ultra-fine grained FeCo–2V

The tensile properties of ultra-fine grained ordered FeCo-2V have been investigated as a function of testing temperature. Samples with grain sizes of 100, 150 and 290 nm have been tested at temperatures ranging from 25 to 500 degreesC. Extremely high yield strengths (up to 2.1 GPa) were measured at room temperature with appreciable ductility of between 3 and 13%. These strengths were found to decline only gradually as the testing temperature was increased to 400 degreesC, while ductility was generally enhanced, up to 22%. The high strengths are attributed to grain boundary strengthening that is particularly effective due to ordering. Measured ductility was dependent on the relative values of yield strength, fracture strength and work hardening rate. Discontinuous yielding and appreciable Luders strain (3-6%) were observed and were dependent on the initial structure and on the testing temperature

Soldering and Brazing Metals to Ceramics at Room Temperature Using a Novel Nanotechnology

This paper reviews a new, low-temperature process for soldering and brazing ceramics to metals that is based on the use of reactive multilayer foils as a local heat source. The reactive foils range in thickness from 40μm to 100μm and contain many nanoscale layers that alternate between materials with large heats of mixing, such as Al and Ni. By inserting a free-standing foil between two solder (or braze) layers and two components, heat generated by the reaction of the foil melts the solder (or braze) and consequently bonds the components. The use of reactive foils eliminates the need for a furnace, and dramatically reduces the heating of the components being bonded. Thus ceramics and metals can be joined over large areas without the damaging thermal stresses that are typically encountered when cooling in furnace soldering or brazing operations. This paper draws on earlier work to review the bonding process and its application to a variety of ceramic-metal systems. Predictions of thermal profiles during bonding and the resulting residual stresses are described and compared with results for conventional soldering or brazing processes. The microstructure, uniformity, and physical properties of the reactive foil bonds are reviewed as well, using several different ceramic-metal systems as examples.