Effect of Ni–P alloy coating on microstructures and properties of vacuum brazed joints of SiCp/Al composites

Compared without electroless Ni–P alloy coating on the SiCp/Al composites, the paper describes the effect of Ni–P deposited layer on the microstructure evolution, shear strength, airtightness and fracture behavior of vacuum brazed joints. Void free and compact reaction layers along the 6063Al/Ni–P deposited layer/filler metal interfaces indicated that the joints exhibit high airtightness with He-leakage less than 2.0 × 10−8 Pa ⋅m3/s. Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis showed that the reaction layers mainly included brittle Al–Ni and Al–Cu–Ni intermetallics, where fracture occurred in priority and the shear strength was less than 90 MPa. However, without Ni–P alloy coating, sound joints with high shear strength of 100.1 MPa but low airtightness with He-leakage higher than 1.45 × 10−7Pa ⋅m3/s were also obtained at 590∘C for soaking time of 30 min. In this case, a few holes that occurred along the filler metal/SiC particle interface significantly decreased the compactness of the joints. Therefore, according to the requirements in practical applications, suitable choice was provided in this research.