Hi J Caprarulo -

Sorry no one has answered your question, unfortunately thermite is a welding process and this is the brazing Forum.

Normally the thermite process is a very high temperature that would melt the copper wires.

It is possible that some one has come up with a "thermite" process that only reaches a temperature of 980°C that would not melt the Copper.

In the brazing field there are several papers that have been published in the Welding Journal in previous years that reference metal oxides mixtures that control the temperatures to provide heat for silver brazing with flux. The term used is Exothermic Brazing. There are two Papers by Roger Long that appears in the January 1966 of the Welding Journal titled Exothermically Brazed Hydraulic Fittings for Aircraft. A second paper titled Exothermic Brazing of Refractory Metals I think was published in the WJ in 1966 but do not have the month.

While The metal oxide mixture is only a source of heat, a brazing filler metal and a Flux or protective atmosphere is required to result in joining. Whether Flux or atmosphere depends on the base metal filler and the processing conditions.

Regards,

Bob Peaslee
click on my name above for address & e-mail info