High temperature (1200 C) ceramic-to-metal seal development

Two phases have been completed, of a program whose ultimate objective is the development of an alkali metal resistant, thermal shock resistant, leak-tight, and neutron radiation resistant ceramic-to-metal seal capable of operation at 1200 C for three to five years. The first phase involved the screening of platinum-base, vanadium-base and vanadium-niobium base brazes for the joining of Cb-1Zr or T-111 alloys to high purity alumina. The second phase involved studies of the performance of sealed capsule samples during 5000-hour aging tests at 800, 1000, and 1200 C in high vacuum. Sealed capsules which were made using pure vanadium braze, and were brazed at 1850 C for one minute, survived 64 thermal cycles to 1200 C at the heating/cooling rate of 100 C/minute. Vanadium braze samples survived 5000-hour aging tests at 800, 1000, and 1200 C. One thermally cycled sample survived a subsequent 5000-hour aging period at 1000 C, but another, at 1200 C, did not survive. It was concluded that a pure vanadium braze used to bond high purity alumina to Cb-1Zr alloy is the best of the systems studied, but that additional studies must be performed to establish its service temperature limitations for the desired three to five years' service.