Rocky Flats activated diffusion bonding of maraging steel

Worked example of plating a soft, oxide-resistant interlayer (silver) to permit low-temperature diffusion bonding of high-strength steel that would lose its martensitic structure at the temperatures needed for direct bonding. O'Brien, Rice and Olson research paper cited.

There is another type of diffusion bonding that is not used very often. Let's say I've got some surface that has poor surface qualities for diffusion bonding — there's something sometimes called activated diffusion bonding. The example comes out of what used to be known as Rocky Flats, where they used to make nuclear warheads, and they did things that were sort of offbeat and could afford to do things no one else could afford. There's a research paper by O'Brien, Rice and Olson in your notes.