Interfacial Structure of Metal-Ceramic Joints

On joining of metals to ceramics, chemical reaction at the bonding interfaces is unavoidable in most of the combinations of ceramics and metals including brazes except for a few special cases. Thermodynamic possibility of the chemical reaction and the resulted interfacial structure are compared with the experimental results in the cases of silicon nitride and silicon carbide ceramics. The influence of the reaction products on the bond strength of the joints and the effect of impurities on the interfacial reaction are discussed.