Ni interlayer induced strengthening effect in alumina/alumina joint bonded with Ti/Cu/Ni/Cu/Ti composite foils

In this work, alumina ceramic was bonded to itself with composite foils (Ti/Cu/Ni/Cu/Ti). The thermodynamics analysis indicates that Ti-Cu liquid firstly formed and reacted with alumina to produce Ti3Cu3O reaction layer. Meanwhile, the consumption of element Ti within the Ti-Cu liquid by Ni interlayer optimized the microstructure of the joint. By thickening Ni interlayer from 0 µm to 100 µm at 1020 ℃, the joints' strength could be significantly improved by 130.6%. While the joints' strength decreased with the decomposition of reaction layer at the brazing temperature higher than 1020 ℃. The FE simulations show that the high-level stress concentration within the reaction layer could be ameliorated by Ni interlayer effectively, which was in accordance with the corresponding fracture characteristics. Although the joint's strength could be improved to 203.9 MPa by using 300 µm Ni interlayer, its improvement rate was limited with Ni interlayer constantly thickening.