PROGRESS IN JOINING OF ADVANCED MATERIALS PART 1 - SOLID-STATE JOINING, FUSION JOINING, AND JOINING OF INTERMETALLICS

Advanced materials generally require novel joining techniques. Develop ments in new materials research should be conducted hand in hand with work on weld-ability and joining capacity aspects. Sound joint quality for any new material has always been considered a milestone in a rese arch and development scheme for a new material, particularly in terms of widespread applications. Better understanding of the microstructure -mechanical properties relationships of the bonded or welded joints wi ll feed back to the materials development activities both in conventio nal and new materials areas. The two joining processes diffusion bondi ng and laser welding are considered in this literature review, since t hese processes are capable of joining a wide range of materials of int erest in the aerospace industry, as well as in many other industrial a pplications, and offer remarkable advantages over conventional fusion Melding processes. Of particular interest is the ability to join the m ore difficult aerospace alloys with minimal component distortion and h igh reproducibility of joint quality. The pul pose of the review is to outline progress made in this area and to make suggestions for future work. Part 1 deals with solid state joining, fusion joining. and join ing of intermetallics, while Part 2 will cover joining of metal matrix composites and joining of other advanced materials.