Joining of MoSi 2 to 316L stainless steel using spark plasma sintering technique

Abstract

The feasibility of joining MoSi₂ to 316L stainless steel was investigated using the spark plasma sintering technique with nine graded materials. It was demonstrated that dense uniformed joints can be achieved with such graded interlayers because the coefficient of thermal expansion of each interlayer closely matched over a wide temperature range. Furthermore, such a compatibility between the graded interlayers prevented MoSi₂ with low toughness from the occurrence of microcracks resulted from the residual stresses formed during cooling of the joint. In addition, it was found that the nine layer joint with a thickness of 1·0 mm for each layer exhibited the minimum residual stress when the compositional exponent is 0·8.