In modern aviation, where safety, durability, and performance are paramount, engineers demand precision components and assemblies with exceptional performance characteristics.
Delivering exceptional strength, durability, and reliability under extreme conditions, brazed assemblies are taking the aerospace industry to new heights by manufacturing robust, efficient, and reliable components used in many critical applications.
Elcon Precision has a rich and extensive background in brazing complex assemblies within the aerospace industry. Driven by innovation, Elcon has firmly established itself as a trusted partner and a leading provider of solutions tailored to the unique needs of aerospace clients.
In this article, we explore the vital role that brazed assemblies play in manufacturing critical aerospace components and the future of brazing in this ever-evolving field.
The Importance of Vacuum Brazing in Aerospace
In aerospace manufacturing, brazing plays a pivotal role in ensuring critical components' reliability, performance, and safety.
Because of the extreme conditions experienced by aerospace applications, the industry demands materials and components capable of withstanding high temperatures, pressure differentials, and mechanical stresses encountered during flight. Brazed assemblies can provide just that, offering superior bonding strength and joining dissimilar materials with intricate geometries while maintaining structural integrity. Brazed assemblies also provide a hermetic seal, preventing leakage of fluids or gases critical for aircraft operation.
Some of the main benefits of brazing operations include:
- High hermiticity
- High repeatability
- Minimal oxidation
- Minimal part-to-part variation
- Robust bond
- Competitive cost
- Greater quality control
- Efficient turnaround
Applications of Brazed Assemblies in Key Aerospace Components
In the aerospace industry, where components are subjected to extreme temperatures, pressures, and mechanical stresses, the quality and integrity of joints are paramount. With precise control over temperature and atmosphere, brazing produces clean, strong, uniform joints with minimal distortion, making it the preferred process for aerospace components.
Key applications of brazed assemblies in aerospace components
Pitot Probes
Critical for measuring aircraft airspeed, pilot probes incorporate brazed components to ensure robust and reliable performance under varying conditions.
Sensor Feedthroughs
The ceramic-to-metal assemblies provide electrical insulation and high mechanical strength, transferring signals, high voltages, high currents, gases, or fluids within hermetically sealed chambers.
Sapphire viewports & windows
Sapphire viewports and windows offer exceptional optical clarity and durability, ideal for critical optical applications in high-pressure aerospace environments. Sapphire-to-metal brazing techniques ensure a hermetic seal that maintains optical integrity.
Speed and Torque Sensors
These sensors measure turbine speed and utilize brazed assemblies to withstand high stresses and temperatures encountered in aerospace applications.
Thermocouple Sensors
Brazed assemblies, such as thermocouple sensors, are used worldwide by engine manufacturers for airplanes, helicopters, and spacecraft.
Complex Cavity Structures
Brazing is employed to fabricate complex cavity structures for various aerospace applications, including RF power, fuel cells, heat exchangers, cryogenic systems, and chemical processing.
Elcon Precision's Expertise in Brazed Assemblies
As leaders in precision engineering within the aerospace industry, Elcon's brazed assembly expertise encompasses various applications, from structural elements to intricate components, across multiple aerospace platforms, including commercial aircraft, military aviation, space exploration, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Elcon Precision is AS9100D certified and provides all documentation when required.
With a team of skilled engineers, metallurgists, and technicians, we understand the unique requirements and challenges associated with aerospace brazing, such as maintaining tight tolerances, ensuring metallurgical integrity, and meeting stringent performance standards mandated by regulatory bodies and industry specifications.
Our versatile furnaces enable us to use many different alloys tailored to the specific application requirements and the ceramic and metals to be joined.
Elcon's specialized brazing and quality equipment includes:
- Camco furnaces
- Laser, TIG, & Spot welding stations
- Helium Leak testing equipment
- XRF
Brazing is an advanced process widely utilized in aerospace applications for its exceptional precision and reliability. This technique involves joining metal components using a brazing filler metal or braze alloy, in hydrogen or high vacuum furnaces. Operating under these conditions eliminates impurities and contaminants, ensuring clean and uniform joints with superior mechanical properties.
Depending on the material type and part geometry, our experienced team of engineers will select the appropriate brazing alloy, joint design, and process best suited to your specific application. This repeatable process yields an assembly with the high hermiticity levels the industry demands.
Using hydrogen or vacuum brazing, we create a highly controlled environment for joining that helps protect assemblies from oxidation. As an added value for our clients, we can join metal components by laser, TIG, and spot welding.
Elcon provides the following custom tests upon request:
- - Tensile test
- - Vacuum test
- - Thermal shock
- - Thermal cycling
A Proven Brazing Process
In an industry that demands meticulous attention to detail throughout the manufacturing process, Quality Assurance (QA) is paramount in ensuring the highest standards of precision, reliability, and safety.
QA protocols in medical titanium fabrication involve rigorous inspections, testing, and documentation to verify the material's biocompatibility, structural integrity, and adherence to regulatory standards. From the initial stages of raw material selection to the final steps of machining and finishing, QA processes are implemented to guarantee that medical-grade titanium meets the exact specifications required for implants, surgical instruments, and diagnostic equipment.
Elcon prioritizes upholding the highest level of quality standards for all of our parts, leveraging state-of-the-art inspection tools to measure each component and assembly before shipping to you. If necessary, we can also provide a complete data set of all critical dimensions with every shipment. In addition to our stringent quality standards, we are also AS9100D-certified, ISO 9001:2015-certified, ITAR-registered, and RoHS-compliant.
Future Trends and Innovations in Aerospace Brazing
With the introduction of new technologies and the continued evolution of existing ones, brazing processes are revolutionizing the aerospace sector.
Innovative techniques such as additive manufacturing (AM) are being integrated with brazing to produce complex, lightweight structures with enhanced performance characteristics.
Advancements in brazing materials and techniques are enabling the joining of dissimilar materials and the incorporation of novel alloys with superior properties. This opens up exciting possibilities for next-generation aerospace systems — including the development of advanced heat exchangers, lightweight structural components, and high-temperature-resistant assemblies.
Brazed assemblies are already playing a key role in emerging aerospace technologies, such as hypersonic vehicles, space exploration vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), where reliability, performance, and weight savings are essential.
As a leading provider of brazing services for critical aerospace components, Elcon Precision is helping to take the aerospace industry to new heights by delivering superior brazed assemblies that enhance the performance, efficiency, and safety of their aerospace systems.
Leveraging state-of-the-art facilities, advanced equipment, and rigorous quality control processes, Elcon can handle complex brazing projects with precision, efficiency, and utmost attention to detail.
Our team is here and ready to start talking, whatever your application may be. Request a quote today to send us your thoughts and get your project moving.
