Aerospace & Defense Technology - August 2022 - 11

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Aerospace Alloys
" Combining the beneficial properties
of different metals is the main reason
to explore diffusion bonding, " says
Thomas Palamides, Senior Product &
Sales Manager - Industrial Furnaces, for
PVA TePla AG, a global manufacturer of
industrial furnaces and PulsPlasma
nitriding systems. " However, when
aerospace manufacturers reach out [to
us about it], often the designers are not
familiar with the best component
design methods to optimize the bond
uniformity or are unfamiliar with the
best surface finish for the materials.
Customers also have questions regarding
the best methods for handling and
fixturing the sub-components of parts
prior to bonding. In addition to design
concerns, most customers' engineers
need guidance regarding the actual
process conditions the components
will undergo during the heating, cooling,
and pressing cycles. "
Consulting with an expert aerospace
manufacturing partner is often the
quickest way to consider the possible
benefits of diffusion bonding. This
approach can also help to tailor diffusion
bonding to the manufacturer's process
cost-effectively.
The Benefits of Diffusion Bonding
The importance of designing a dissimilar
metal joint often lies in a desire
to expose the correct metal surface to
specific environmental conditions
where a single alloy may not perform as
well. Another reason is to introduce
material systems that are lighter in
weight or provide a level of corrosion
resistance that can only be achieved by
" packaging " dissimilar metals.
In aerospace, metal diffusion bonding
is utilized in a variety of applications.
Diffusion bonding is now a viable
process for fabricating aerospace
structural hardware or fluid and gas
flow devices. This includes thermal
management devices for defense weapons,
liquid rocket engines, and millimeter
wave hybrid horns for land and
space surveillance.
Additionally, diffusion bonding of titanium,
steel and copper alloys is utilized to
fabricate aerospace components with
complex configurations. The method can
be successfully used with blow forming to
form near-net-shape aerospace components,
including high-pressure tanks for
attitude control of spacecraft, a combustion
chamber with copper cooling channels,
and lightweight structural panels.
Among aerospace and electronic warfare
technologies, antennae detect polarized
electronic radio waves. The geometry
of the systems is at the heart of this
technology, and diffusion bonding provides
for more complex designs allowing
the improved performance of the new
generation of equipment.
Diffusion bonding also has tremendous
potential applications for conformal cooling.
The concept is to bond layers of sheet
metal that contain machined channel/
microchannel structures. When comAerospace
& Defense Technology, August 2022
mobilityengineeringtech.com
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Aerospace & Defense Technology - August 2022

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