Fabrication of Active Braze Alloys for High Temperature Service

38 Fabrication of Active Braze Alloys for High Temperature Service--Surmet Corporation, 33 B Street, , Burlington, MA 01803-3406; (617) 272-3250 Dr. Suri A. Sastri, Principal Investigator Dr. Suri A. Sastri, Business Official DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-97ER82489 Amount: $75,000 The current impetus to develop high performance joining technologies stems from the anticipated use of advanced technical ceramics in structural applications that will exploit their desirable high temperature properties. Examples of such applications would include those for internal combustion engines, turbine engines and heat exchangers to mention a few. A simple yet flexible and broadly applicable innovative technique is proposed in Phase I as a way to fabricate and evaluate novel active braze alloy compositions that will meet these requirements. The expensive and time consuming conventional method of having to make ingots by melting, etc. will not be necessary. The technique is ideally suited for screening a whole series of new alloy compositions that would not normally be considered for the brazing of ceramics. The Phase I approach should be equally applicable to many types of ceramics including oxides such as alumina zirconia and non oxides such as silicon carbide, silicon nitride and aluminum nitride ceramics. Once the technical feasibility is demonstrated in Phase I these broadly applicable and potentially low cost novel active braze alloy foils will undergo rapid development in Phase II and successful commercialization in Phase III. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: These novel braze alloys will be in demand for a broad range of joining of ceramics-to-ceramics, ceramics-to-metals and metal-to-metal applications. This will enable the development of high performance internal combustion engines and other power generators to run at high temperatures with better fuel efficiency and reduce pollution. Chemical and aerospace industries would improve energy efficiency and reduce cost and pollution. The US advanced ceramics industry will benefit from increased applications.