Technical Differences Between FSW and Vacuum Brazing

What is a liquid cold plate? A liquid cold plate is a device used to cool electronic equipment. In most cases, liquid cold plates are made of aluminum, but copper is also acceptable. The advantage of both materials is their high thermal conductivity.

The liquid cold plate can be divided into large liquid cold plate, thin liquid cold plate, standard liquid cold plate and copper liquid cold plate. It depends on the industry of application, including railway, wind energy, solar energy, aerospace, aviation, data center, military, etc. Customizing the perfect thermal management solution requires a liquid cold plate.

Usually, we use vacuum brazing and friction stir welding to assemble the shell and cover. In order to fully understand the impact of these two technologies on liquid cold plates, we compare the differences in two aspects.

1. FSW: Impact on Design & Manufacturing Process of A Liquid Cold Plate

For LCP design, the advantages of FSW have pressure resistance (up to 300 bars), higher mechanical strength, material use (copper alloy) and thermal efficiency. And its disadvantages are the minimum welding size of 9mm width, the minimum coverage thickness of 1mm and the maximum welding depth of 12mm.

As for LCP manufacturing process,there is no requirement of post heat treatment to recover the mechanical strength. And FSW is easy adjustment and high repeatability. However,in the case of high-level plane specifications, the processing requirement is post FSW distortion of 0.5mm.

2. FSW vs Vacuum Brazing: Implications for Cost and Safety

Vacuum welding TCO is very expensive, including vacuum furnace equipment, high -year maintenance costs, and surface treatment of equipment parts. The vacuum welding cycle is long, which is about 8 hours. In addition, it can only be produced in batches. And the quantity and size of the parts depends on the size of the furnace.

From the perspective of security risks, vacuum welding will cause fatigue effect due to cycle pressure. It is also possible that the welding is invalid due to the failure of the initial adhesion.

FSW is integrated with mixed welding and milling machines. Large plates or small ones can be made quickly. You can also clamp multiple plates on the same workbench. Energy consumption such as mechanical processing is also one of the influencing factors of the cost of liquid cooling board.

In terms of service, FSW is not available. Because CNC operators are trained as FSW operators, which is simple and efficient.

Are you clear about technical differences between FSW and vacuum brazing? If you have any other questions about LCP or need a cooling solution for your heat sink, feel free to leave a comment or send an email to contact Winshare.