EDITOR’S CHOICE
A BRAZE NEW WORLD
MORGAN ADVANCED MATERIALS
SAFE, RELIABLE AND SUSTAINABLE
SPACE EXPLORATION
The space industry is growing fast and is
predicted to be worth over a trillion dollars
by 2040. Edward Arata, Brazing Engineer at
Morgan Advanced Materials’ Braze Alloys
Business, explains how braze alloys play their
part in safe, reliable and sustainable space
exploration.
The saying goes “one small step for man, one
giant leap for mankind”. This famous phrase,
uttered by Neil Armstrong, is the perfect
advertisement for space exploration and its
importance to the future.
Less than a century old, space exploration
has come on leaps and bounds since the first
artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was propelled
into space in 1957. Since then, the world has
witnessed marvels such as landing on the
moon, the space shuttle programme of the
1970s, and the launch of the International
Space Station.
24
PECM Issue 38
The importance of these missions and their
subsequent value is immeasurable. While
many might not realise on a day-to-day basis,
space exploration has improved lives and
the global economy no end. This includes
simple weather forecasting, broadcasting
TV and radio, predicting natural disasters,
monitoring for fertile land, forecasting sea
level patterns, and even aiding research in
muscular atrophy.
external opinion though, there are internal
operational challenges. Namely, space
exploration needs to become safer and more
sustainable.
A huge part of solving this challenge is in
brazing alloys.
A BRIEF HISTORY ON BRAZING
IN SPACE
It’s little wonder then, that this industry has
significant value. The space industry was
reportedly worth $384 million USD in 2017,
growing at a rate of 7.4 per cent. According to
Morgan Stanley, it sees the industry growing
to be worth $1.1 trillion USD by 2040. In simple terms, brazing joins two metals by
heating and melting a filler (alloy) that bonds
to the two pieces of metal and joins them.
The filler must have a melting temperature
below that of the metal pieces.
However, there are challenges. Many believe
that the millions of dollars and resources
used to explore space could be better used
on immediate threats to society like clean
water, famine, poverty and more. Outside of The use of braze alloys in space equipment
is mission critical, as they allow sensors to be
mounted as close as possible to engines to
measure and monitor output and feed data
back to operators.