Influence of Erosion Phenomenon on Flow Behavior of Liquid Al-Si Filler Between Brazed Components

Abstract

Automotive heat exchangers are predominantly composed of plates, tubes and fins. Each component is brazed by using Al-Si filler. In the plate/tube/fin brazed-structures, the flow of the liquid filler between the components affects the fillet size at each joint. In this study, the influence of the erosion phenomenon, i.e., silicon diffusion from the braze cladding into the core alloy, in the tube on the flow behavior of the liquid filler flowing on the tube from the plate to the fin has been investigated. As a result, the area of the liquid filler not flowing but existing around α phases on the tube during brazing, which is defined as filler flow channel, can change depending on the erosion degree. The flow ability of the liquid filler flowing from the plate to the fin increases as the area increases.