The process of diffusion bonding has been developed following many years of research at Culham.
Our own fusion experimentation relies upon this technology for the hundred of viewports required for diagnostic access to our tokamak devices. At the same time they serve as a tritium barrier, which is contained under the most stringent conditions.
An effective test is illustrated.
A crystal quartz disc is diffusion bonded into a stainless steel tensile test section…
and after being leak tested to ensure perfect bonds…
the specimen is pulled to destruction…
of note is the fact that the bonds on both sides of the disc remain perfectly intact…
and a ring of quartz is plucked out of each face of the disc, demonstrating that the tensile strength of the bond exceeds that of the quartz.
