Investigations into Flux-Free Plasma Brazing of Aluminum in a Local XHV-Atmosphere

authored by

Jan Klett, Benedict Bongartz, Vincent Fabian Viebranz, David Kramer, Chentong Hao, Hans Jürgen Maier, Thomas Hassel

Abstract

As a lightweight construction material, aluminum plays a key role in weight reduction and, thus, sustainability in the transport industry. The brazing of aluminum and its alloys is impeded by the natural passivating oxide layer, which interferes with the brazing process. The presented study investigates the possibility of using a thermal silane-doped argon plasma to reduce this oxide layer in situ and thus eliminating the need to use hazardous chemical fluxes to enable high-quality brazing. Using plasma spectroscopy and an oxygen partial pressure probe, it was shown that a silane-doped argon plasma could significantly reduce the oxygen concentration around the plasma in a thermal plasma brazing process. Oxygen concentrations below 10⁻¹⁶ vol.-% were achieved. Additionally, metallographic analyses showed that the thickness of an artificially produced Al₂O₃-Layer on top of AlMg1 samples could be substantially reduced by more than 50%. With the oxide layer removed and inhibition of re-oxidation, silane-doped plasma brazing has the potential to become an economically efficient new joining method.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Materials Science

Type

Article

Journal

MATERIALS

Volume

15

ISSN

1996-1944

Publication date

22.11.2022

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Materials Science(all), Condensed Matter Physics

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15238292 (Access: Open)