The effects of tack welding and increasing surface area on the tensile strength of silver electric and flame soldered stainless steel joints

Abstract

The purposes of this study were: 1) to compare silver solder joint strength using flame and electric soldering techniques, and 2) to determine the effect of tack welding and increasing metal-to-metal contact area prior to tack welding, on the tensile strength of silver solder joints. Six methods: (flame soldered; tack welded and flame soldered; increased contact area, tack welded, and flame soldered; electrosoldered; tack welded and electrosoldered; and increased contact area, tack welded, and electrosoldered) were used to produce 15 solder joints in each group. The tensile strength of the joints were tested with Instron Universal Testing Machine. Flame soldering resulted in joints with significantly higher tensile strength (P < or = 0.001). Tack welding had no significant effect on the tensile strength of the joints. Increasing the contact area had no significant effect on the tensile strength of tack welded electric soldered joints, but significantly weakened the flame soldered joints (P < or = 0.05).