Y. Flom, NASA Goddard Space Center, Greenbelt, MD
Electron Beam (EB) vacuum brazing was identified as a very promising joining technology for the robotic assembly of the large truss structures in space. Thin wall titanium tubes are attached to the open ended fittings using “snap-n-braze” process being developed at Goddard. Experimental results obtained in the laboratory setup are very encouraging. Excellent brazed joints were obtained using silver-based filler metals as well as low temperature Al-Mg brazing alloys.
Summary: Electron Beam (EB) vacuum brazing was identified as a very promising joining technology for the robotic assembly of the large truss structures in space.