Microwave ignited combustion synthesis as a joining technique for dissimilar materials: Modeling and experimental results

Microwave energy has been applied to ignite the combustion synthesis (CS) in Ni + Al (50: 50 at %) powder mixtures in order to join dissimilar materials, in particular high-temperature metals. A numerical simulation was performed in order to obtain the data otherwise difficult to be experimentally measured and to develop a simplified predictive model of microwave ignited and sustained CS in metal powder compacts for joining applications. Experimental and numerical simulation results demonstrate that joining can be rapidly obtained by microwave ignition of the combustion synthesis characterized by a minimum extension of heat affected zones in the joined substrates.