The challenges in predicting the fatigue life of dissimilar brazed joints and initial finite element results for a tungsten to EUROFER97 steel brazed joint

This paper summarises the challenges in accurately predicting stress states in dissimilar brazed joints and presents initial results from a finite element analysis of a tungsten to EUROFER97 brazed joint. The residual stresses due to joint manufacture are presented and differences in stress distribution due to thermal and mechanical loading highlighted. The results from this analysis correlate well to experimental results from previous research however further validation is required. The challenges in developing fatigue assessment procedures for dissimilar brazed joints are also discussed. These fatigue assessment procedures are introduced and a validation strategy for such procedures is proposed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.