Achieving a strong polypropylene/aluminum alloy friction spot joint via a surface laser processing pretreatment

Strong metal/non-polar plastic dissimilar joints are highly demanded for the lightweight design in many fields,which,however,are rather challenging to achieve directly via welding.In this study,we designed a laser processing pretreatment on the Al alloy to create a deep porous Al surface structure,which was successfully joined to the polypropylene(PP) via friction spot welding.A maximum joint strength of29 MPa was achieved,the same as that of the base PP(i.e.the joint efficiency reached 100%),much larger than ever reported.The joining mechanism of the Al alloy and the PP was mainly attributed to the large mechanical interlocking effect between the laser processed Al porous structure and the re-solidified PP and the formation of chemical bond at the interface.The deep porous Al surface structure modified by laser processing largely changed the Al-PP reaction feature.The evidence of the C-O-Al chemical bond was first time found at the non-polar plastic/Al joint interface,which was the reaction result between the oxide on the Al alloy surface and thermal oxidization products of the PP during welding.This study provides a new way for enhancing metal-plastic joints via surface laser treatment techniques.

Effect of static annealing on superplastic behavior of a friction stir welded Ti-6Al-4V alloy joint and microstructural evolution during deformation

Structural integration is one of the most critical developing directions in the modern aerospace field,in which large-scale complex components of Ti alloys are proposed to be fabricated via the method of welding + superplastic forming.However,the undesired strain localization appeared during superplastic deformation of the entire joint has largely hindered the development of this method.In our study,a combination process of friction stir welding(FSW) + static annealing+ superplastic deformation was first time proposed to eliminate severe local deformation.To achieve this result,a fully fine lamellar structure was obtained in the nugget zone(NZ) via FSW,which was totally different from the mill-annealed structure in the base material(BM).After annealing at 900℃ for 180 min,the BM and NZ then exhibited the similar elongation of> 500% and similar flow stress at 900 ℃,3 × 10^(-3)s^(-1),which was the precondition for achieving uniform superplastic deformation in the entire joint.Moreover,the different microstructures in the BM and NZ tended to become the similar equiaxed structure after deformation,which was the result of different microstructural evolution mechanisms in the NZ and BM.For the NZ,there was a static and dynamic spheroidization of the fully lamellar structure during the process,which could largely reduce the flow softening of the fully lamellar structure.For the BM,a new view of "Langdon-CRSS theory"(CRSS,critical resolved shear stress) was proposed to describe the fragmentation of the coarse equiaxed structure,which established the relationship between grain boundary sliding and intragranular deformation during deformation.

Static spheroidization and its effect on superplasticity of fine lamellae in nugget of a friction stir welded Ti-6Al-4V joint

The spheroidization of the lamellar structure can greatly contribute to the superplasticity of the nugget zone(NZ)of Ti alloy welds,which is the key to achieve the integral superplastic forming of welds for the fabrication of large-scale complex components.However,the spheroidization process is complex and costly since it cannot be obtained generally,unless the lamellae suffers from a large deformation.In this study,the static spheroidization was achieved for the fine lamellae structure in the nugget of a friction stir welded(FSW)Ti-6Al-4V joint,particularly by the annealing without any deformation.The specialα/βinterface obeying a Burgers orientation relationship(BOR)after FSW was first time directly observed,whose effect on the spheroidization was discussed.A new static spheroidization mechanism with the gradual coalescence of the adjacent lamellae was discovered,which we named as“termination coalescence”.There was a slower coarsening rate in the lamellar structure than in the classical equiaxed one,due to the BOR in the lamellae,although both of them exhibited a volume diffusion character during annealing.Consequently,the similar superplasticity can be achieved for the base material and NZ after annealing.This study can provide a new way to the spheroidization and a theoretical basis for the integral superplastic forming of welds during production.