Transient liquid phase bonding of T91 steel using two-step heating process

A novel two-step heating process, consisting of a short-time high temperature heating followed by isothermal solidification at a lower temperature, was used to transient liquid phase (TLP) bond T91 steel. The interface morphology of the joint was investigated and compared with that of conventional TLP bond made at a constant bonding temperature. The results show that the two-step heating process produces a non-planar interface at the initial stage, which is different from the planar interfaces associated with conventional heating process. No interface can be found in the final joint by two-step heating process, however, a planar interface still exists in the final conventional TLP bond. Therefore, the bending ductility of the joint is dramatically improves by the two-step heating process, and the joint properties are similar to that of base metal.