One-step brazing process to join CFC composites to copper and copper alloy

The aim of this work is to develop a new single-step brazing technique to join carbon fibre reinforced carbon composite (CFC) to pure copper (Cu) and copper alloy (CuCrZr) for nuclear fusion applications. In order to increase the wettability of CFC by a copper-based brazing alloy containing no active metal, the composite surface was modified by direct reaction with chromium, which forms a carbide layer and allows a large reduction of the contact angle. After the CFC surface modification, the commercial Gemco® alloy (Cu/Ge) was successfully used to braze CFC to pure copper and pure copper to CuCrZr by the same heat treatment. The shear strength of the CFC/Cu joints measured by single lap shear tests at room temperature was (34 ± 4) MPa, comparable to the values obtained by other joining processes and higher than the intrinsic CFC shear strength.