Failure analysis of a commercially pure titanium tube in an air conditioner condenser

Failure analysis of a commercially pure titanium tube in an air conditioner condenser

Joining of titanium and stainless steel is challenging due to the formation of hard, brittle intermetallics. This study focuses on engineering ductile materials for joining transition metals. Friction welding of tube to tube-plate by an external tool, a novel solid state welding process was employed to join titanium tube and stainless steel tube plate. The interlayers engineered were copper, silver and Cu–Zn alloy. The micrographs revealed phase transformations in titanium tube and unaffected stainless steel base. Interface peak microhardness of 458 HV was observed for Ti/Cu–Zn/SS welded sample. The intermetallics formed were characterized by X-ray diffra