J Am Ceram Soc. 2019;102:5691–5698. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jace | 5691 © 2019 The American Ceramic Society 1 | INTRODUCTION Liquid phase sintering (LPS) is used as a mechanism for im- proving the mechanical properties of sintered steels, since it accelerates diffusion and homogenization of the alloying ele- ments across the microstructure. The successful performance of LPS relies on the distribution of the alloying elements within the microstructure, close dimensional tolerances, and the densification of the steel. Therefore, it is strongly related to the features of the liquid phase: the wettability of the pro- moted liquid over the Fe particles, the infiltration capacity of the liquid through the porosity network and the liquid‐solid interaction. Considering a transient liquid phase, if the liquid wets the solid (θ < 90°), the liquid phase tends to spread over the powder particles surface, thus favoring the capillarity action among particles immersed in the liquid and enhanc- ing the material densification. 1 The liquid‐solid interaction (inert, reactive or dissolutive 2‒6 ) across the interface highly influences the wetting and the infiltration during the sinter- ing cycle. Creating a favorable wetting case is not exclusively linked to the liquid‐solid interaction, but it is also related to the solid surface conditions. The oxide layer naturally cover- ing any metallic surface must be removed prior to the melting of the promoted liquid, so that it can wet and spread over the solid surface. Hence, the favorable wetting scenario with no presence of unreduced oxides depends on different factors, being necessary to define a wetting system, 7,8 composed of the environmental conditions (temperature, atmosphere and pressure), the solubility between phases, the chemical com- position of the present phases and the surface characteristics. The careful control of the whole liquid‐solid–atmosphere be- havior is the key for a successful wetting performance, since it determines the change from an unfavorable wetting situa- tion toward positive wetting conditions. The aim of the current study was to analyze the feasibility of a newly designed B‐free alloy for multiple applications: as a liquid phase promoter for sintered steels and as a filler material for joining PM steels through the sinter‐brazing technique. The last one consists a joining method of metal- lic components in which sintering and brazing of the desired parts take place simultaneously, which gives the opportu- nity of manufacturing intricate shapes of dissimilar materi- als, while reducing the steps of the manufacturing route and further machining operations. 9 There is a tight connection between the wetting behavior of the liquid and its brazeabil- ity, 10‒12 since the molten alloy must wet the solid and spread Received: 9 March 2018 | Accepted: 2 April 2019 DOI: 10.1111/jace.16518 SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE Novel multiuse liquid phase promoter for PM components Andrea Galán‐Salazar | Mónica Campos | José Manuel Torralba Materials Sci. and Eng. Dept., Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, Madrid, Spain Correspondence Andrea Galán‐Salazar, Materials Sci. and Eng. Dept., Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Leganés, 28911 Madrid, Spain. Email: andrea.galan@uc3m.es Funding information DIMMAT, Grant/Award Number: S2013/ MIT‐2775 Editor: Eugene Olevsky Abstract The aim of this work was to characterize the behavior of a novel multiuse B‐free alloy that was designed as a liquid phase promoter and as a filler material for sinter- ing and brazing steels in N 2 ‐H 2 . Through thermodynamic calculations, a new Cu‐Fe‐ Ni‐Si alloy (named LP) has been designed showing a proper melting point suitable for being used at temperatures below 1100°C, with good wetting behavior that allows it use as brazing material and liquid phase former. This new boron‐free alloy has shown good dimensional behavior, good brazeability, and competitive mechanical properties. These demonstrated features allow the developed alloy it use as braze ma- terial for PM parts in industrial furnaces as well as master alloy to promote transient liquid phase in PM structural steels. KEYWORDS dilatation/dilatometry, iron/iron compounds, joints/joining, sinter/sintering, wetting