Mechanical and Structural Properties of Joints of Stainless Steel and Titanium Brazed with Silver Filler Metals Containing Tin

Joining of titanium and its alloys with stainless steel by means of welding methods and obtaining joints characterised by good operation properties constitutes today a significant problem in relation to research and technology. Apart from specialised welding technologies, brazing is one of the basic methods applied for joining these having diversified physical and chemical properties material combinations. Brazing is especially recommendable in the production of systems and heat exchangers for chemical industry as well as subassemblies of nuclear reactors and aircraft engines and accessories. Similarly as in case of welded joints of stainless steel and titanium, the mechanical properties of brazed joints of the aforesaid materials are connected with the occurrence of hard and brittle intermetallic phases appearing in the form of continuous layers on braze boundaries. This work reports testing of strength properties and investigation of structures of vacuum-brazed joints of stainless chromium-nickel steel (X6CrNiTi18-10) and titanium (Grade 2) at 820÷900°C for 5÷20 min by means of silver brazing filler metals with tin grade B-Ag68CuSn-730/755 (Ag68Cu28Sn4) i B-Ag65CuSnNi-740/767 (Ag65Cu28Sn5Ni2). These filler metals assure better wettability of stainless steel hard to wettable in vacuum brazing. The structural tests were conducted taking advantage of optical microscopy; by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy-dispersion spectrometer (EDS). The test results allowed to specify the most convenient brazing parameters of the tested material system from the mechanical properties point of view and to determine of qualitative and geometrical changes in joint structures depending on temperature and brazing times.