Vacuum Furnace Brazing Open Cell Reticulated Foam to Stainless Steel Tubing

摘要

A heat exchanging device for separating hydrogen isotopes was designed using open cell reticulated copper foam that was brazed to stainless steel tubing. It is anticipated that the copper foam in the annular space of a tube-in-tube (TnT) style heat exchanger would improve the thermal efficiency; it is further anticipated that brazing the foam to the inner tube that is alternately filled with heating and cooling fluid, would further improve the thermal efficiency of the process. This paper describes the intended application and development effort required to braze the copper foam to the stainless steel tubing.