Cracking of Copper Brazed Steel Joints Due to Precipitation of MnS upon Cooling

The process of brazing of different steel grades by pure liquid copper foil was studied to reveal the critical conditions when cracks do or do not appear in the braze upon cooling without any external load. Steel grades C45 (S 0.030 wt.%, no Mn and no Cr), S103 (Mn 0.25 wt.% and S 0.020 wt.% with no Cr), CK60 (0.75 wt.% Mn, 0.07 wt.% S and 0.15 wt.% Cr) and EN 1.4034 (Cr 12 wt.%, Mn 1.0 wt.% and S 0.035 wt.%) are studied under identical conditions using copper foils of 70-microns-thick. The samples were held above the melting point of copper at 1100 °C under high vacuum for different time durations (between 180 and 3600 s) and then cooled spontaneously. The joints were found cracked during cooling after a certain critical holding time. This critical holding time for cracking was found to decrease with increasing the Mn content and the S content of steel. It is observed that cracking is due to the precipitation of a critical amount of MnS phase upon cooling. The MnS/Cu interface is the weakest interface in the joint (with adhesion ensured only by van-der-Waals bonds), which is broken/separated upon cooling due to difference in heat expansion coefficients of the sulfide and copper phases. Higher is the Mn and S content, shorter is the probable time required for crack to appear in the joint. The braze integrity diagram is constructed as function of solubility product of MnS in steel and holding time showing a stable crack-free technological region and an unstable technological region with high probability of crack formation.