Today's Industrial Products and Solutions March 2019 | Page 14

lasting a full day. nacelle frames and nuclear control rods.
Now, advances in high vacuum hot presses used for Today, however, it is increasingly being utilized for
diffusion bonding are eliminating many of those new applications for products ranging from tur-
constraints. bine blades to medical devices, heat exchangers
More advanced equipment now provides supe-
and even lithium batteries.
rior pressure control, feedback from embedded Typical materials utilized in these products that
pressure transducers, physical ink tests that show are welded by diffusion bonding include stainless
variations in pressure across the surface and rapid steel, titanium, zirconium, beryllium, high alloyed
cooling systems to improve the bond, increase aluminum, Inconel and tungsten. The process is
yields and significantly increase cycle time. also used to weld dissimilar metals like copper to
This has ramifications for an increasing number
of industries. Diffusion bonding is already used
titanium, copper to aluminum, copper to tungsten
and even Molybdenum to aluminum.
to create intricate forms for the electronics, aero- The process is now also being utilized for a revo-
space, and nuclear industries for items such as lutionary additive manufacturing process called
fuselages, actuator fittings, landing gear trunnions, Laminated Objection Manufacturing (LOM). In this
12 TIPS Magazine • March ‘19