This article presents an overview of resistance brazing (RB) used for many applications involving small workpieces, for small joints that are part of very large equipment, or for low-volume production runs. It lists the advantages and limitations of RB and outlines the factors that contribute to high quality in an RB joint. The article discusses the classification of RB such as manual RB or automatic RB. It describes the selection of metal electrodes and filler metals for RB. The filler metals include silver alloys, aluminum-silicon alloys, and copper-phosphorus alloys.

Primary silicon in hypereutectic aluminum-silicon alloys is very hard, not only imparting improved wear resistance but also decreasing tool life during machining. This article discusses the importance of primary silicon refinement and the process of accomplishing primary silicon refinement.

This article is a compilation of binary alloy phase diagrams for which phosphorus (P) is the first named element in the binary pair. The diagrams are presented with element compositions in weight percent. The atomic percent compositions are given in a secondary scale. For each binary system, a table of crystallographic data is provided that includes the composition, Pearson symbol, space group, and prototype for each phase.

Cast and wrought coppers can be strengthened by cold working. This article provides information on minor alloying elements, such as beryllium, silicon, nickel, tin, zinc, and chromium, used to strengthen copper. It details annealing and recrystallization and grain growth characteristics of copper. The article also discusses the tensile-stress-relaxation behavior of selected types of copper wires.

This article describes the microstructure of copper alloys, including copper-zinc (brasses), bronzes, copper-nickel, and copper-nickel-zinc, and examines the effect of oxygen content on alloy phases observed in different product forms. The article also discusses inclusions, etchants, and the effect of composition and processing on grain structure and growth rates.

Copper, copper alloys, and precious metals are probably the most easily brazed metals because of their resistance to oxidation at high temperatures. This article provides a brief discussion on the metallurgy of copper, copper alloys, and precious metals and discusses the filler metals, brazing fluxes, joint clearance and design, and different brazing processes used in brazing of copper, copper alloys, and precious metals.

The properties of copper alloys occur in unique combinations found in no other alloy system. This article focuses on the major and minor alloying additions and their impact on the properties of copper. It describes major alloying additions, such as zinc, tin, lead, aluminum, silicon, nickel, beryllium, chromium, and iron. The article discusses minor alloying additions, including antimony, bismuth, selenium, manganese, and phosphorus. Copper alloys can be cast by many processes, including sand casting, permanent mold casting, precision casting, high-pressure die casting, and low-pressure die casting. The article provides information on the types of copper castings and tabulates the nominal chemical composition and mechanical properties of several cast alloys.

Metallic nonelectrolytic alloy coatings produced from aqueous solutions are commercially used in several industries, including electronics, aerospace, medical, oil and gas production, chemical processing, and automotive. Nonelectrolytic coating systems use two types of reactions to deposit metal onto a part: electroless and displacement. This article explains the various types of electroless and dispersion alloy coating systems. It provides information on the processing of parts, process control, deposit analysis, and equipment used for coating nonelectrolytic displacement alloys. The article concludes with a discussion on the safety and environmental concerns associated with nonelectrolytic deposition processes.

This article focuses on the various criteria considered in the selection of product forms, joint types, solders, and filler metals for brazing and soldering of base material components.

Corrosion is often thought of as rusting, the process of deterioration undergone by a metal when it is exposed to air or water. This article provides the fundamentals of joints corrosion and primarily addresses the various forms of corrosion observed in brazed and soldered joints and their causes. It describes the role of proper brazing procedures in controlling corrosion. The article concludes with information on the corrosion resistance of various brazing alloy systems.

Bronzes generally are used to describe many different copper-base alloys in which the major alloying addition is neither zinc nor nickel. They are generally classified by their major alloying elements, for example, tin bronzes with phosphorus used as a deoxidizer, aluminum bronzes, nickel-aluminum bronzes, silicon bronzes, and beryllium bronzes. This article briefly discusses the types, hardening mechanisms, heat treatment processes, applications, and mechanical properties of these bronzes and high-copper alloys.

This article describes the casting characteristics and practices of copper and copper alloys. It discusses the melting and melt control of copper alloys, including various melt treatments to improve melt quality. These treatments include fluxing and metal refining, degassing, deoxidation, grain refining, and filtration. The article provides a discussion on these melt treatments for group I to III alloys. It describes the three categories of furnaces for melting copper casting alloys: crucible furnaces, open-flame furnaces, and induction furnaces. The article explains the important factors that influence the selection of a casting method. It discusses the production of copper alloy castings. The article concludes with information on the gating and feeding systems used in production of copper alloy castings.

Solder cracking is one of the dominant failure modes of the electronic assembly system. Experience shows that solder joints can fail due to processing defects during solder joint formation or due to excessive loading in various applications. This article introduces major fractography techniques to demonstrate typical solder joint failure and background failure mechanisms. These techniques may be helpful to readers in recognizing failure modes and in preventing further failures during product development and process implementation.

Copper and copper alloys are used extensively in structural applications in which they are subject to moderately elevated temperatures. At relatively low operating temperatures, these alloys can undergo thermal softening or stress relaxation, which can lead to service failures. This article is a collection of curves and tables that present data on thermal softening and stress-relaxation in copper and copper alloys. Thermal softening occurs over extended periods at temperatures lower than those inducing recrystallization in commercial heat treatments. Stress relaxation occurs because of the transformation of elastic strain in the material to plastic, or permanent strain.

This article begins by describing the designations of cast and wrought aluminum alloys. It explains the effects of main alloying elements in aluminum alloys: boron, chromium, copper, iron, lithium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, phosphorus, silicon, sodium, strontium, titanium, and zinc. The article describes the microstructure of cast and wrought aluminum alloys and the various strengthening mechanisms, including solid solution, grain refinement, strain or work hardening, precipitation (or age) hardening, and dispersoid strengthening. The article explicates the tribological behavior of aluminum alloys, aluminum-base composites, and metal-matrix composites. It presents the effect of material-related parameters and external factors on wear behavior and transitions of aluminum-silicon alloys. The article also presents the most important factors affecting the dry sliding wear behavior of particle-reinforced aluminum-base composites against a steel counterface.

Torch brazing utilizes a fuel gas flame as a heat source for the brazing process. This article discusses the advantages, limitations, applications, and key techniques of torch brazing, and presents an overview of the equipment used.