An aluminum alloy brazing sheet used for brazing in an inert gas atmosphere without using a flux includes an intermediate material and a brazing material cladded onto at least one side surface of a core material in this order from the core material side. An oxide is formed on a surface of the aluminum alloy brazing sheet by brazing heating, the oxide including any one or two or more of Mg, Li, and Ca and having a volume change ratio of 0.990 or less to a surface oxide film formed before brazing heating, and an atomic molar ratio of Mg, Li, and Ca to Al in the oxide formed on the surface of the aluminum alloy brazing sheet before brazing heating is 0.5 or less. The present invention provides an aluminum alloy brazing sheet having excellent brazability in brazing in an inert gas atmosphere without using a flux, and a method for manufacturing the same.

A flux-free brazing aluminum alloy brazing sheet includes: a core material formed of aluminum alloy comprising Si of 0.50 to 0.90 mass %, Cu of 0.30 to 2.50 mass %, and Mn of 1.40 to 1.80 mass %, with a Mg content limited to 0.05 mass % or less, and with the balance being Al and inevitable impurities; an intermediate material being formed of aluminum alloy comprising Mg of 0.40 to 1.00 mass %, and Zn of 2.00 to 6.00 mass %, with the balance being Al and inevitable impurities; and a brazing material being formed of aluminum alloy comprising Si of 6.00 to 13.00 mass %, Mg of 0.05 to 0.40 mass %, and Bi of 0.010 to 0.050 mass %, with the balance being Al and inevitable impurities.

An aluminum alloy brazing sheet used for brazing in an inert gas atmosphere without using flux includes a core material of aluminum or aluminum alloy, and a brazing material of aluminum alloy including Si of 4.0 mass % to 13.0 mass % and cladding one side surface or both side surfaces of the core material. One or both of the core material and the brazing material includes any one or two or more types of X atoms (X is Mg, Li, Be, Ca, Ce, La, Y, and Zr). The aluminum alloy brazing sheet is a brazing sheet in which oxide particles including the X atoms and having a volume change ratio of 0.99 or lower with respect to an oxide film before brazing heating are formed on a surface thereof, by brazing heating.

The invention relates to a rolled fin stock material from an 3xxx-series aluminium alloy comprising, in wt. %, Mn 0.7% to 2.0%, Si 0.4% to 1.5%, Zn up to 4%, Fe up to 0.8%, Zr 0.02% to 0.40%, Sc 0.01% to 0.6%, Ni up to 0.3%, Cu up to 0.5%, Mg up to 2%, Cr up to 0.3%, Ti up to 0.3%, the balance aluminium and tolerable impurities. The invention further relates to a brazed assembly of components incorporating such a fin stock material.

A method for resistance spot welding aluminum alloys includes reducing the electrical resistance of an outer surface of the stackup in contact with the anode while leaving the faying surfaces at higher resistances, e.g., by grit blasting the anode contacting surface. High resistance electrodes, e.g., with refractory metal content may be used. Stackups of greater than two members may be used. Sheet material may be prepared having the lower and higher resistance surfaces and used with other sheets having higher resistance surfaces. The cathode contacting surface of the stackup may also have a reduced resistance. The method and sheet may be used in assembling vehicle bodies.

An aluminum alloy material comprises: Si: less than 0.2 mass %, Fe: 0.1 to 0.3 mass %, Cu: 1.0 to 2.5 mass %, Mn: 1.0 to 1.6 mass %, and Mg: 0.1 to 1.0 mass %, the balance being Al and incidental impurities. A number density of Al—Mn compound having a circle equivalent diameter of not less than 0.1 μm is not less than 1.0×10.sup.5 mm.sup.−2, and a number density of Al.sub.2Cu having a circle equivalent diameter of not less than 0.1 μm is not more than 1.0×10.sup.5 mm.sup.−2.

The invention concerns a method for the manufacturing of a clad sheet product comprising a core layer (6) and at least one cladding layer, the method comprising rolling an assembly of a core layer and at least one cladding layer and reducing the thickness to a desired gauge, the core layer being made of an aluminium alloy, the at least one cladding layer comprising a centre section (2) and at least two edge sections (4, 5) positioned at opposite sides of the centre section (2) along the edges of the at least one cladding layer, the centre section being made of a material being an aluminium alloy or a composite material comprising a matrix of aluminium or an aluminium alloy, the edge sections along (4, 5) the edges being made of a material different from the material of the centre section, wherein the edge sections (4, 5) are cut off during or after the rolling. The invention further concerns a cladding plate useful in the method.

An electrical termination unit or feedthrough which may be used for routing electrical conductors through a chamber wall, or otherwise across a barrier between isolated atmospheric conditions. The electrical termination unit may have aluminum as the interface material to the chamber interface and may utilize a ceramic insulator. The electrical termination unit may have the aluminum used as the interface brazed directly to a ceramic surface of the insulator. The aluminum that forms the chamber interface may be formed within a hollow ceramic tube in the same process step that brazes the aluminum to the ceramic tube with a hermetic joint. Machining subsequent to the brazing of the aluminum to the ceramic insulator may allow for achievement of the final form desired. A method for manufacturing such an electrical termination unit.

A pulse welding period alternately includes a first peak period in which a first peak current whose peak value is a first current value is caused to flow through a welding wire and a base period in which a base current having a second current value is caused to flow through the welding wire. During the base period, a second peak current whose peak current value is a sum of a second current value and a third current value and is smaller than the first current value is superimposed on the base current at a second pulse frequency. A second peak period in which the second peak current is caused to flow once is shorter than the first peak period. During the first peak period, a droplet is transferred from the welding wire toward a base material.

An apparatus, material and method for forming a brazing sheet has a high strength core bonded with corrosion protection layer on the coolant side and/or layers on both airside and coolant side. The material enables heat exchanger components, such as tube, header, plate, etc., for applications, such as automotive heat exchangers, that require high fatigue life as well as high service life in a corrosive environment.