Ceramics at TWI

Joint design for ceramics

One of the most important practical features of joining ceramics is joint design. This is particularly so when joining ceramics to materials having a different coefficient of thermal expansion. In this case joint design is critical, otherwise the joint may fail either during production, or in service.

There are several ways to produce successful mixed CTE joints including:

• compressive fitting
• interlayers (to absorb residual stress)

Examples of various interlayer solutions are illustrated in the figure below.

These techniques have all been applied at TWI to produce a range of CTE mismatched joints. Case studies using interlayer designs are given in the links below.

Ceramic Faced Tappets	Successful bond

See below for more information about joint design for ceramics:

• Joining ceramics - a guide to best practice. Section 2. Joining technology - the basics, plus Design issues Industrial Members and JoinIT North East users only.