Brazing furnace and aluminum-material brazing method

A method for brazing an aluminum material in which an object to be processed composed of an aluminum material is brazed in an inert gas atmosphere, the method comprising:

• dehumidifying an inert gas;
• making the surroundings of the object to be processed an inert gas atmosphere by supplying the dehumidified inert gas;
• and
• heating the object to be processed to a brazing temperature in the inert gas atmosphere and brazing the object.

A brazing furnace for use in brazing an object composed of an aluminum material, comprising:

• a brazing chamber equipped with a heating apparatus that heats the object to a brazing temperature;
• an inert gas supply apparatus that provides an inert gas;
• a dehumidifying apparatus interposed in a gas supply line between the inert gas supply apparatus and the brazing chamber, the dehumidifying apparatus being configured to dehumidify of the inert gas by contacting the inert gas with a moisture absorbent that absorbs moisture in the inert gas prior to supplying the dehumidified inert gas into the brazing chamber;
• and
• a regenerating device configured to remove moisture, which has absorbed in the moisture absorbent, from the moisture absorbent;
• wherein the moisture absorbant is selected from the group consisting of silica gel, metal silicate, or zeolite.