Abstract
Diffusion brazing is a joining process utilized in the manufacture and repair of turbine blades and vanes. MAR-M247 is an investment cast Ni-based superalloy used for turbine blading and has good strength properties at high temperatures. The objectives of this work was to develop a diffusion brazing procedure to achieve high strength joints. A commercially available diffusion brazing filler metal of composition Ni-15Cr-3,5B of 100 μm thickness was used. With the desire to eliminate brittle centre-line phases, the effects of the processing variables (only temperature and time) on the joint microstructure was studied. Once the metallurgy of the joint was understood, mechanical property assessments were undertaken i.e. tensile and creep rupture tests, and the latter being the severest test to evaluate joint strength. The results demonstrated that the diffusion brazed joints had nearly equivalent mechanical strength to that of the parent metal. This showed that the resultant diffusion brazing parameters enabled effective and reliable joining of MAR-M247.