Vacuum Brazing of Aluminum

Fluxless vacuum brazing is now a commercially feasible process for joining a large variety of aluminum heat exchangers, particularly the common automotive and aircraft types. The advantages offered by this process include: improved quality of the brazed assemblies, lower production costs, elimination of air and stream pollution, elimination of safety hazards, and the potential for improved product designs.

This paper describes the process used to vacuum braze aluminum, analyses the overall cost of the process, discusses selection of alloys suitable for vacuum brazing, and deals with the application of the process to commercial production.