Question: I've heard that argon can be a dangerous gas to work with in my brazing operations. I don't understand how this can be since argon is known to be an inert gas and appears to be quite safe to use. How can it be dangerous?

Let’s finish the discussion we started last time. As shown in Table 1, it is important that you look at the surfaces that you want to braze together and decide if they meet the design criteria needed for brazing.

Problem: We are getting into 3D printing of components. Because of the size of the finished component, our 3D-printing equipment only allows us to 3D print smaller subsections of the finished product and then join them together to make the final assembly.

The definition of brazing is taken from the first edition of the Brazing Manual published by the American Welding Society (AWS) in 1955. At the time, these engineering groups were only working with the British system. Therefore, they were only specifying temperature via Fahrenheit, with no consideration for metric units. Thus, 800°F was a nice, even number and a very convenient number to use to separate the two joining methods of soldering and brazing.

Brazing is a very important metal-joining technique that continues to grow in usage each year in many industries around the world. Most people are familiar with welding and soldering, but many are not familiar with where brazing might fit into the overall metals-joining landscape.

Some of the brazing paste we purchased has separated, showing a layer of liquid above the brazing material in the containers.

Welcome to my part of “Technical Talk,” where we will discuss brazing, a very important metal-joining technique that continues to grow in usage each year in many industries around the world. Most people are familiar with welding and soldering, but many are not familiar with where brazing might fit into the overall metals-joining landscape.

Let’s conclude our discussion of magnesium and brazing.

Does magnesium (Mg) vaporization in a vacuum furnace only occur as a so-called “mag burst” near the brazing temperature of aluminum, or can it occur at lower temperatures?

Question: I was torch brazing a large-diameter copper tube into a copper fitting and built up a nice fillet on the top of the joint at my customer’s request. Someone told me that the joint I made was not a properly brazed joint but was a braze-weld instead. What did he mean? How does braze welding with a torch compare to what I thought I was doing?