A heating element/electrical conduit assembly used in the Orbiter Maneuvering System failed a leak test during a routine refurbishment inspection. The conduit, approximately 100 mm in length and 12 mm in diameter, was fabricated from two tubes and braze-joined with a sleeve. The tube on the high temperature side (heating element side) and the sleeve were made of Inconel 600 and the other tube was stainless steel (SS) 316. For the filler metal, a Ni-Cr-B brazing alloy per AWS BNi-2, was used. A Helium leak test spotted the leak located at the joint between the sleeve and SS 316 tubing. This joint was dissected, mounted in a plastic mold, polished, and examined with an optical microscope. Debonding of the brazed surfaces was noticed, more pronounced toward the sleeve end which was exposed to uncontrolled atmospheric conditions intermittently. Initially, lack of wetting was suspected, presumably caused by inadequate surface preparation or incomplete fusion of the filler metal. However, this postulation was later discarded based upon the following observations: (1) The angle of wetting between the fillet and tube was small, an indication of adequate wetting, (2) the fillet did not exhibit a globular microstructure which would be an indication of insufficient melting of the filler metal, and (3) debonding was intermittent toward the midsection of the sleeve.
Laser Welding of 422 Stainless Steel with Inconel 625 Filler Metal
