Daudi R. Waryoba¹, Linsea H. Paradis¹; ¹Pennsylvania State University

The conventional press and sinter method for fabrication of bi-layered silver graphite-copper electrical contacts has shown to be challenging process due to the immiscibility of graphite in copper and silver. During sintering of silver graphite-copper compacts, silver diffuses into copper leaving a trace of graphite at the interface. This creates a poor interface between the mating surfaces, thereby decreasing the shear strength of the joint. In this work, interlayers with different compositions were used to promote diffusion bonding at various sintering conditions. Microhardness, electrical resistivity, electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and shear testing, are some of the techniques used to characterize the microstructure of diffusion bonded parts.