Diffusion Bonding of Al₂O₃ Dispersion-Strengthened 316L Composite by Gleeble 3800

The aim of this work is to investigate the bonding properties of the ceramic dispersion-strengthened 316L (CDS-316L) composites with the reference 316L stainless steel (REF-316L) using a Gleeble 3800 physical simulator. In previous works, two different composites, REF-316L and 316L, with 1 wt% Al₂O₃ composite (CDS-316L) have been prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS). In the present work, these specimens were diffusion-bonded using the following parameters: a temperature range of 950-1000 °C and a uniaxial pressure of 20-30 MPa. It was observed that the deformation of the CDS-316L during the uniaxial bonding process was higher compared to the 316L steel rods. The addition of alumina particles increased the micro-hardness of the 316L steel. The samples were broken in the CDS-316L zones, not at the diffusion-bonded interfaces. No diffusion zones have been observed within the investigated magnification for all composites, where the interfaces between the different specimens were well defined.