Welding Digest

The city of Charleston, S.C., known for its southern charm, cuisine, and historic landmarks, played host to the ninth International Brazing and Soldering Conference (IBSC) this spring. The 100-year-old Francis Marion Hotel, a city landmark named after the Revolutionary War hero, served as the meeting venue. Nearly 150 attendees from across the United States, Japan, Europe, and South America discovered new and interesting industry developments and met other like-minded individuals during the two and a half-day event. 

Held every three years since 2000, IBSC is one of the brazing and soldering community’s go-to events. Members of the AWS C3 Committee on Brazing and Soldering are heavily involved with the conference and held a committee meeting following the conclusion of the conference. 

The IBSC combines knowledge and networking. This year’s event was full of firsts, including the debut of the student poster session and the Horizon Awards. Keep reading to discover what you missed at IBSC 2024. 

Educational Experience 

This year, IBSC events kicked off with an optional education session, held on Sunday, April 14. It covered methods of mechanical testing of brazed joints, brazing of ceramics, brazing of superalloys and stainless steels, and strength of brazed joints. 

Technical/Education Program Chair Alexander E. Shapiro shared that 25 industry professionals came to this session, a nice turnout. “They asked many good questions related to the presenters’ work,” said Shapiro. 

Plenary Lectures Stand Out 

The official event started on Monday, April 15. Conference Cochair Stephen L. Feldbauer wore a bow tie in honor of Robert “Bob” L. Peaslee, widely known as the father of nickel brazing. Peaslee was often photographed wearing a bow tie.  

“Thank you for coming,” Feldbauer said. “If it weren’t for all of you attending and supporting this event, we wouldn’t be able to have it.” He also shared these statistics: “We have 141 attendants as of right now, and we’re a very diverse group. Forty percent of the people sitting here in this room are not from the United States; they are from somewhere outside of the United States. We have 14 countries, including the United States, represented here today and 75 different organizations.” 

Three plenary lectures followed, as detailed below. 

•  Milena Salvo, a professor of materials science and technology at the Politecnico di Torino, Italy, presented “Glasses and Glass-Ceramics as Joining Materials for High-Temperature Applications: 30 Years of Research at the Politecnico di Torino.” 

•  Dusan Sekulic, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Kentucky, presented “Capillary Flow of Aluminum Braze in Microgravity: Brazing Aluminum Alloys in Space (NASA BRAINS Project).” 

•  Huaping Xiong, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, China, virtually presented “Research and Development of Medium- and High-Entropy Alloys (HEA) as Brazing Filler Metals.” 

Sessions in the Spotlight 

Session One was on wetting and interfacial reactions. The following sessions ran until the event’s end on Wednesday, April 17: new brazing filler metals, properties of brazed and soldered joints, high-entropy brazing alloys, brazing of heat exchangers, brazing of ceramics and composites, brazing and soldering of dissimilar metals, new technology one and two, new applications of soldering technology, and properties of brazing filler metals.  

Overall, more than 40 presentations were made, including two from presenters in the Ukraine who joined the event remotely.

Conference Cochair Robin Gourley indicated many factors stood out at IBSC 2024, from the papers to attendees. “People were engaged, asking questions, and challenging presenters in terms of their work. The overall level of quality with attendees as well as presenters was above and beyond,” Gourley said. “In talking to various attendees, a lot of networking is done. If they didn’t come, those experiences wouldn’t have happened.” She said what’s learned is then taken back to universities and other workplaces. “An enticing point is having international presenters because you may not know about their research that’s here.” 

Awards for Posters and Papers Take Center Stage 

For the first time, IBSC hosted a student poster session with monetary awards and recognized four papers. 

All of the presented posters reflected the high level of scientific and engineering brazing and soldering projects carried out at universities in different countries. The winners were as follows: 

•  First — “Can Nanojoining Be an Alternative to Brazing?” By: S. Hausner, B. Sattler, and G. Wagner from the Universityof Technology, Chemnitz, Germany. Award: $750.

•  Second — “Soldering and Brazing of Aluminum to Stainless Steel for Lightweight Battery Packs in Electric Vehicles.”  By: C. Sims, B. Wells, and J. Clark from The Ohio State University (OSU). Award: $500. 

•  Third — “Improvement of Microstructural Characteristics of Ni-Based Brazing Alloys by Vanadium Inoculation.” By: K. Bobzin, H. Heinemann, and M. Erck from the Surface Engineering Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Germany. Award: $300. 

In addition, accompanying the two traditional awards for the best technical brazing and soldering papers were two new Horizon Award honors for brazing and soldering research that pushes the industry forward. The victors were as follows: 

•  Best Technical Brazing Paper Award — “A Study of the Wetting Behavior of Al-Based Filler Metals for Cu/Al Brazing.” By: Hui Zhao with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and Creative Thermal Solutions Inc., Urbana, Ill., and Yupeng Wang from UIUC.  

•  Best Technical Soldering Paper Award — “Development and Characterization of Vacuum Soldering Process for the Storage Ring Vacuum Chamber Cooling System of Sirius.” By: R. Defavari, D. Y. Kakizaki, F. R. Francisco, R. D. Ribeiro, M. A. Feitosa, R. M. Seraphim, T. M. Rocha, and O. R. Bagnato from the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials CNPEM, Brazil. 

•  Horizon Award for Brazing — “Joint Strength of 316L Hybrid Joints of Laser-Melted and Conventional Manufacturing Routes Brazed with B-Ni5a.” By: Wolfgang Tillmann and Julia Bültena from TU Dortmund University, Germany. 

•  Horizon Award for Soldering — “Experimental Evaluation of Ultrasonic Assisted Soldering of Metallized Polymer Current Collectors for Li-Ion Batteries.” By: Nathaniel Flint Colvin and Avraham Benatar from OSU and Drew Pereira and Brian Morin, Soteria Battery Innovation Group, Greenville, S.C.

Exhibition Space Endures 

More than 20 exhibitors showcased their products and services during IBSC. Staff representing the various companies engaged in good dialogue and exchanged information with visitors at their booths.  

Join Us in Three More Years 

Bookmark (aws.org/Community-and-Events) to stay informed about IBSC 2027 conference details as they become available.  

This article was written by Kristin Campbell (managing editor of the Welding Journal) for the American Welding Society.