Nanofoils for soldering and brazing in dental joining practice and jewellery manufacturing

Abstract

This paper describes the development of novel, reactive Al-Au nano-multilayered foils, their possible application in different fields and a discussion of the nano-foils' suitability for dental and jewellery applications. Moreover, this study includes the rapid joining of similar and dissimilar materials, by placing multilayer nano-foils and two layers of solder or braze. The foils precisely control the instantaneous release of heat energy for the joining and act as a controllable local heat source. The reactive foils' thickness is in the range 10 nm to less than 100 nm and they contain many nanoscale layers that alternate between materials with high mixing heats, such as Al and Au. The foil between the two solder/braze layers melts the solder/braze with the heat generated by the reaction and bonds the components. The use of reactive foils eliminates the need for a furnace and dramatically increases the soldering/brazing heating rate of the components being bonded. Thus, ceramics and metals can be fused over required areas without the thermal stresses that are encountered in furnace soldering or brazing. In addition, a completely new plasma technology is proposed for the manufacturing of nano-foils and the first results of the preliminary experimental testing are presented.