Fatigue Life of Preceramic Soldered and Postceramic Soldered Joints

This research investigated the fatigue life (ie, the number of cycles of a given stress that can be sustained by a sample prior to catastrophic failure) of metal ceramic soldering. One metal ceramic alloy was joined using four postceramic solders and one preceramic solder. All specimens received appropriate heat treatment simulating ceramic application although no porcelain was applied. Five specimens were fabricated for each solder type, and a 35,000 psi (241.4 MPa) fatigue stress was applied to each solder joint during specimen testing. The test variable was the number of stress cycles required to fail each specimen. The postceramic solders exhibited significantly higher fatigue lives than did the preceramic solder. Scanning electron microscope analysis showed that the preceramic solder not only exhibited a larger grain size, but also showed micropores between these grains.