Blog

Lucas-Milhaupt Materials Calculators Materials questions? We can help. When ordering alloys, you may have the dimensions or length of a braze joint, but many products are sold by weight. How much should you order? Or, conversely, you may know the mass/weight, but need the length. Our calculators ...

Torch Brazing Stainless Steel Stainless steels encompass a variety of iron-based alloys, having more than 10% chromium, which offer corrosion resistance through a transparent chromium oxide layer. The AWS Handbook lists five categories of stainless steels: Austenitic (nonhardenable) steels (i.e. ...

Radiographic Examination - Discontinuity Images on Film Examining finished joints may be the final step in the brazing process, but inspection procedures should be incorporated into the design stage. Your methodology will depend on the application, service and end-user requirements plus regulatory ...

Aluminum-Copper HVAC Protection The HVAC/Refrigeration industry is converting many components from copper to aluminum. The reasons? Aluminum is less expensive by weight, is more corrosion resistant, weighs less, and maintains similar heat-transfer rates to copper. These aluminum parts are joined to ...

Solders for Potable Water The U.S. Federal Clean Drinking Water Act limited the amount of lead (Pb) in solder to less than 0.2% for potable water systems. Shortly afterward, a new solder alloy was introduced to the plumbing industry for joining copper (Cu) potable-water lines. The alloy, which is ...

Liquidus vs. Solidus Simply put, liquidus is the lowest temperature at which an alloy is completely liquid; solidus is the highest temperature at which an alloy is completely solid. Pure metals are fluid, and they melt at a single temperature. For example, silver melts at 1761°F (961°C), and copper ...

Liquid Metal Embrittlement Liquid Metal Embrittlement (LME) may occur in a brazing operation involving high-strength materials such as stainless steels, nickel alloys or age-hardened alloys, when the materials are stressed and come into contact with molten brazing filler metal. Many cases have been ...

Brazing of Beryllium-Copper Alloys Beryllium copper offers high corrosion resistance, electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity, plus high strength and resistance to high temperatures. Non-sparking and non-magnetic, it is useful in mining and petrochemical industries. With high resistance to ...

Lucas-Milhaupt Warranty vs. Shelf Life Many times each year, customers ask our Technical Services Group, "What is the shelf life of your formulated products?" In most cases, Lucas-Milhaupt does not provide a shelf life, but rather a warranty. Please note that warranties do not mean that the product ...

Ring vs. Washer Both rings and washers are preform shapes used for brazing. For smaller parts with relatively small joint volume and lap area, either a washer or ring may be used (Figure 1). Both washers and rings can be circular in shape; however, their cross sections will always differ in shape. ...