It is known that fluorides, which have been added to the flux, improves the brazeability in aluminum hard solder. However, very few reports have been published on their effects on the brazability in detail. The object of this work is to study the effects of fluorides in the flux.
Fluorides used in these studies were AlF
3, LiF, Na
3AlF
6, NaF, KF, ZnF
2, CaF
2, BaF
2, SrF
2, MgF
2, MnF
2, CdF
2, , CeF
3, and PbF
2. Each of these fluorides was added to each of the base chloride fluxes of the following compositions:
30wt.% LiCl-70wt% KCl
25wt.% LiCl-40wt.% KCl-35wt.% NaCl
and 20wt.% LiCl-50wt.% KCl-30wt.% NaCl
Dip brazing was conducted in the mixed flux kept at 605°C. The flow factor of the flux for joining specimens in each flux was measured as the factor indicating the brazeability.
These fluorides could be classified into the following 3 groups according to their effects on the flow factor
The 1st group: ZnF
2, CdF
2, and PbF
2The 2nd group: NaF, KF, and CaF
2The 3rd group: AlF
3, LiF, Na
3AlF
6, MgF
2, SrF
2, and BaF
2The flux, containing the 1st group, gave high values of flow factor by the addition of fluorides in less than 1wt.% of fluorine; however, the surface of the brazed specimen was extremely dirty owing to the precipitation of metals resulted from dissociation of fluorides.
The flux, containing the 2nd group, gave flow factor increasing with the addition of fluorides up to 1.5wt.% of fluorine; however, the flow factor decreased with the further addition of fluorides owing to the rise in the temperature of liquidus.
The flux, containing the 3rd group, gave flow factor increasing with the increase in addition of fluorides; however, the flow factor gradually approached a constant value, which showed the stable state of the flux.
It was concluded that the fluorides belonging to the 3rd group were the most available to be added to the base chloride flux. The best effects were achieved by their addition in the range of 2 5wt.% of fluorine.
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