Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

The wetting behavior and strength at aluminum/alumina interfaces has been an active subject of research. Al/alumina applications include ceramic-metal composites and several applications for electronic industries. In this paper the interface strength and microstructure of Al/alpha-alumina was investigated. We discovered that in a solid-state joining, the strength of the joint increases with increasing joining temperature. In a liquid-state joining, the strength of the joint gradually decreases due to the formation of unbonded areas. The strength, sigma sub b, is expressed by the following equation as a function of unbonded area, A: sigma sub b = 2.22 A + 143 (70% <_ A <_ 100%). The highest strength reached 400 MPa when the interface was formed at around the melting temperature of aluminum. An aluminum layer close to the interface became a single crystal when it was bonded to a sapphire. The following crystallographic orientation relationship is established: (1 bar 11) sub Al // (001) sub alpha-Al sub 2 O sub 3 , <110) sub Al // <100> sub alpha-Al sub 2 O sub 3. Amorphous alumina islands were formed at the interface. In the amorphous alumina, gamma-alumina nanocrystals grew from the sapphire, with the same orientation relationship to sapphire as above.