[How to] solder pure nickel foil?

Jewelry Discussion
1

Hi Everyone! I would like to solder pure nickel foil to a base metal.
I don�t know the best choice of solder or base metal for this task.
Does anyone have a suggestion or have tried something similar? The
materials I plan to use are�

Nickel foil (99% pure), 100mm square, 0.05mm thick Base metal plate,
100mm square, 1.5mm thick

The base metal will have been lapped to global flatness of 0.002mm.
After joining the foil to the base metal, it would be ideal if the
flatness was maintained.

Any leads to companies that can bond nickel foil to other metals
would also be very helpful.

Thank you,
Jeff

2 
    Hi Everyone! I would like to solder pure nickel foil to a base
metal. I don't know the best choice of solder or base metal for this
task.

Jeff - I have had good luck diffusion bonding 24 ga nickel to both
copper and brass using James Binnion’s kiln-fusion technique described
at: http://www.artmetal.com/project/TOC/proces/forge/mokume01.html.
Perhaps this approach would also work with the foil.

Debby Hoffmaster

3

since the question is being asked, I suppose that ordinary soldering
methods have been tried and found unsuitable. Thinking of solder
paste, or coating one surface entirely with solder (lead, tin or
silver base) then placing the two pieces together and heating from
below.

If these “normal” approaches don’t work I wonder if you could do it
by using pure gold leaf as a “solder”? Something like make up a
sandwich of base metal-gold leaf-nickel foil, with a suitable weight
on top, all placed in a kiln and heated to, what, two hundred, three
hundred Celcius?

Kevin (NW England, UK)