Application of mushy/semi-solid joining—Part 3

A process to join glass or stone onto base metal alloys is proposed. The process characteristics allow using various kinds of glasses or stones, such as craft glass, beads, tile, amethyst, agate and hematite with different shapes and sizes. The process utilizes excellent and active join ability of mushy or semi-solid alloy’s properties. In this study, the mechanism of the joining was investigated and some applications were showed. The process itself has several useful properties like: (1) easy-to-operate, (2) ability to get good joining condition, and (3) applicability to a continuous production system. Through the study, it is found that the mushy joining is a useful and valuable manufacturing method for developing and manufacturing glass/metal or stone/metal composites. The mushy joining process is different from the existing cloisonné and enameling process.