Ceramic-metal sealing structure, and associated method
View Patent ↗A method of sealing a ceramic component to a metal component for a metal halide battery is provided. The method involves the steps of coating a portion of the ceramic component with a metallic coating, and then bonding the coated ceramic component to the metal component. The metallic coating includes a reactive metal. A sealing structure formed by using such a method is also presented.
1. A method of sealing an alumina component to a nickel-containing metal component in a metal halide battery, comprising:
coating a portion of the alumina component with a metallic coating by an ion plasma deposition technique; and
bonding the coated alumina component to the nickel-containing metal component,
wherein the metallic coating comprises a reactive layer comprising chromium disposed on the alumina component, and a transition layer comprising nickel and at least about 10 atomic percent chromium disposed on the reactive layer.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the alumina component comprises alpha alumina.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reactive layer has a thickness in a range of about 100 nm to about 10000 nm.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the amount of chromium in the transition layer ranges from about 10 atomic percent to about 22 atomic percent.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transition layer has a thickness in a range of about 5 microns to about 50 microns.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bonding step comprises diffusion bonding.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein bonding is carried out under a compressive stress ranging from about 30 MPa to about 50 MPa.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein bonding is carried out in a controlled atmosphere or under vacuum.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein bonding is carried out at a temperature in the range of about 800 degrees Celsius to about 1200 degrees Celsius.
10. A sealing structure of a metal halide battery, comprising:
a ceramic separator within the metal halide battery;
a metallic coating disposed on a portion of the ceramic separator; and
a metal component bonded to the portion of the ceramic separator through the metallic coating,
wherein the metallic coating comprises a reactive layer comprising chromium disposed on the ceramic separator, and a transition layer comprising nickel and at least about 10 atomic percent chromium disposed on the reactive layer.
11. The sealing structure of claim 10 , wherein the ceramic separator comprises alpha alumina.
12. The sealing structure of claim 10 , wherein the metal component comprises nickel.
13. The sealing structure of claim 10 , wherein the amount of chromium in the transition layer ranges from about 10 atomic percent to about 22 atomic percent.
14. The sealing structure of claim 10 , wherein the metallic coating disposed on the ceramic separator portion has been ion plasma-deposited.