Fabrication of high strength bond of Ti-17 alloy using press bonding under a high bonding pressure

Conventional diffusion bonding method to manufacture aircraft components of titanium alloy may result in microstructure coarsening, long manufacture cycle and increased cost because of long bonding time. To avoid the disadvantages of diffusion bonding, press bonding is proposed to bond titanium alloy at a high bonding pressure. In this paper, Ti-17 alloy is bonded at 30 MPa and 860 C for different bonding times. The macroscopic deformation caused by high bonding pressure promotes void closure and improves the microstructure of bonding interface. The void and bonding line disappear completely for bonding time above 10 min. The maximum shear strength of bond obtained at 10 min is 951 MPa. Comparing with diffusion bonding, a bond without void and with higher shear strength can be obtained in shorter bonding time in the press bonding.