Brazing aluminum is a process that requires training, skill, and attention to detail. It requires a deep knowledge of the craft and of the terminology that comes along with it. The process of brazing aluminum brings up the basic questions: how does forging work? What is induction heating? How does induction heating work? And how efficient is induction heating?
Induction heating is, simply, the heating of a material through the use of an electric current. Induction heating, and how it can be applied to brazing aluminum, has been present and in use since the 1920s, proving to be an effective method for many years. Induction heating is utilized using one of two methods, either eddy current heating or hysteretic heating. A typical induction heater is usually made up of three different components. It has a power unit, a work head, and a work coil.
So why use an induction heater when brazing aluminum or another like material? Induction heating has some pronounced benefits over other types of heating used to braze materials. First, it has fast heating cycles. Induction heating also produces accurate heating patterns while keeping the material’s core relatively cold, which in turn keeps the material stable. Induction brazing (a process joining two or more materials together with a filler metal that has a lower metal than the base metals) is particularly suited to brazing aluminum or silver, metals with low melting points.
Silver, for example, is often used in induction heating and induction brazing because of its melting point. Silver typically has a melting temperature as low as 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, making it easily controlled and malleable. Induction heating can be used in processes as low as 212 degrees Fahrenheit.
When considering tips for brazing aluminum and deciding what method to use to do it, take a look into induction heating and, subsequently, induction brazing. Induction heating and soldering can provide accuracy to the process of brazing that is ideal for many types of materials with low melting points (such as silver and aluminum, as seen above). Induction heating is a reliable way to braze two or more metals together and can be done using two different methods.