Stability of fiber laser-MIG hybrid welding of high strength aluminum alloy

The effect of fiber laser on MIG arc was investigated with 8 mm 7075-T6 high strength aluminum alloy as base material.The arc shape,droplet transfer form and electrical signal in the process of MIG welding and laser-MIG hybrid welding were analyzed.The stability of the hybrid welding process was evaluated by standard deviation analysis.The results show that with the increase of laser power,a large number of laser-induced plasma enters the arc column area,providing more conductive channels,which makes the heat of MIG arc more concentrated and the short circuit transition disappear.Due to the continuous effect of laser,the keyhole becomes a continuous electron emission source,and a stable cathode spot will be formed near the keyhole,which enhances the stability of MIG arc at the base current state.By using the method of standard deviation analysis,the voltage standard deviation of single MIG welding arc and laser-MIG hybrid arc within 4 seconds was calculated.The standard deviation of single MIG arc voltage was 1.05,and the standard deviation of MIG arc voltage in laser-MIG hybrid welding was 0.71–0.86,so the hybrid welding process was more stable.

METAL INERT GAS WELDING OF 2519-T87 HIGH STRENGTH ALUMINUM ALLOY

20 mm thick plates of 2519-T87 high strength aluminum alloy have been welded.The effects of the compositions of filler wires,the heat input and the compositions of shielding gas on the mechanical properties and microstructure of the welded joint have been investigated.The results indicate that finer microstructure,better mechanical properties and higher value of hardness of HAZ can be obtained by using lower heat input.The use of Ar/He mixed shielding gas has several advantages over pure Ar shielding gas.With the increase of the proportion of He in the mixed shielding gas, the grain size of the weld metal as well as porosity susceptibility decreases.When the volume ratio of He to Ar reaches 7：3,the porosity and the grain size of weld metal reach the minimum,and the porosity can be further reduced by filling some CO2.

Simulation on the deformation controlling of T-joint LBW with auxiliary heat source for high strength aluminum alloy

To avoid the angular deformation of aluminum alloy T-joint weldments, a new method named welding with auxiliary heat source is proposed. The welding simulation is performed with the commercial finite element software Abaqus and FORTRAN programme encoding a special conical heat source with Gaussian volumetric distribution of flux. The influence of the local model on the temperature, residual stress, and welding deformation distributions is investigated. The findings show that angular deformation achieved through numerical computation completely consists with the experimental result which has proved the effectiveness of the finite element methods developed. Various measurements performed on small-scale welded test specimens provide a data base of experimental results that serves as a bench mark for qualification of the simulation result. Finally, the residual stress and strain states in a T-joint are predicted.

Fatigue Life Estimation of High Strength 2090-T83 Aluminum Alloy under Pure Torsion Loading Using Various Machine Learning Techniques

The ongoing effort to create methods for detecting and quantifying fatigue damage is motivated by the high levels of uncertainty in present fatigue-life prediction approaches and the frequently catastrophic nature of fatigue failure.The fatigue life of high strength aluminum alloy 2090-T83 is predicted in this study using a variety of artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques for constant amplitude and negative stress ratios(R?1).Artificial neural networks(ANN),adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems(ANFIS),support-vector machines(SVM),a random forest model(RF),and an extreme-gradient tree-boosting model(XGB)are trained using numerical and experimental input data obtained from fatigue tests based on a relatively low number of stress measurements.In particular,the coefficients of the traditional force law formula are found using relevant numerical methods.It is shown that,in comparison to traditional approaches,the neural network and neuro-fuzzy models produce better results,with the neural network models trained using the boosting iterations technique providing the best performances.Building strong models from weak models,XGB helps to predict fatigue life by reducing model partiality and variation in supervised learning.Fuzzy neural models can be used to predict the fatigue life of alloys more accurately than neural networks and traditional methods.

Formation of spheroidal microstructure in semi-solid state and thixoforming of 7075 high strength aluminum alloy

The effects of isothermal holding process on the microstructure evolution of semi-solid 7075 strength aluminum alloy produced by the recrystallisation and partial remelting(RAP) process were investigated. Tensile mechanical properties of as-received and thixoformed alloys at room temperature were examined. The results show that the microstructure of as-received alloy exhibits remarkable orientation along the deformation direction.With the increase of isothermal holding time, the solid particle grain size continuously increases and the degree of spheroidization also improves. Coalescence mechanism is dominant when reheated at 595 °C and Ostwald ripening mechanism is dominant when reheated at 615 °C in the semi-solid state. A lower coarsening rate is observed for 615 °C(coarsening rate K = 391 μm3 s-1) compared with the coarsening rate for 595 °C(coarsening rate K = 501 μm3 s-1). The RAP 7075 aluminum alloy can be successfully thixoformed and the filling of components is good after thixoforming. The thixoformed components exhibit favorite mechanical properties.

Numerical Simulation of Warm Forming Behavior of High Strength Aluminum Alloy 7075

Numerical analysis is critically important to understanding the complex deformation mechanics that occur during sheet forming processes.It has been widely used in simulation of sheet metal forming processes at room temperature in the automotive industry.However,material at elevated temperature behaves more differently than at room temperature and specific material parameters and models need to be developed for the simulation of warm forming.Based on the experimental investigation of material behavior of high strength aluminum alloy 7075(AA7075),constitutive equations with strain rate sensitivity at 140,180 and 220 ℃ are developed.Anisotropic yield criterion Barlat 89 is used in the simulation.Warm forming of limit dome height tests and limit drawing ratio tests of AA7075 at 140,180 and 220℃are performed.Forming limit diagrams developed from experiment at several elevated temperatures in the previous study are used to predict the failure in the simulation results.Punch force and displacement predicted from simulation are compared with the experimental data.Simulation results agree with experimental results,so the developed material model can be used to accurately predict material behavior during isothermal warm forming of the AA7075-T6 alloy.

Effect of variable polarity frequency on 2A14-T6 aluminum alloy welds using HPVP-GTAW process

Hybrid ultrahigh frequency pulse variable polarity gas tungsten arc welding （HPVP-GTAW） for 2A14-T6 high strength aluminum alloy was carried out and the effects of variable polarity frequency with constant pulse current frequency 40 kHz on weld bead geometry, microstrueture and microhardness were analyzed. Experimental results indicate that, compared to that of the conventional VP-GTAW process, the weld depth and ratio of weld depth to width are improved significantly by the variable polarity frequency in the HPVP-GTAW process, which the ratio of weld depth to width is improved by 36% at equal variable polarity frequency of 100 Hz, and improved by 55% with that of 200 Hz. Weld microstructure and microhardness distribution are changed obviously with the increase of variable polarity frequency. In the conventional VP-GTA W process, the grains in weld central zone are coarser, and the microhardness in weld central zone and fusion zone is about 95 HV and the lowest 82 HV, respectively. The microhardness is enhanced to a certain extent both in the weld central zone and fusion zone with the variation of variable polarity frequency in the HPVP-GTAW process due to the refinement and uniformity of weld microstructure. With the variable polarity frequency of 600 Hz, the microhardness in weld central zone and fusion zone reaches nearly 110 HV and 97 HV, respectively.

Spreading Behavior and Hot Cracking Mechanism of Single Tracks in High Strength Al–Cu–Mg–Mn Alloy Fabricated by Laser Powder Bed Fusion

Laser powder bed fusion(LPBF)technology is a high-precision metal additive manufacturing(AM)technology.Due to the high specific strength of high strength aluminum alloys,high strength aluminum alloys fabricated by LPBF have broad application prospects in the field of light weighting.However,high strength aluminum alloys have high hot cracking susceptibility.In this study,an analysis of the hot cracking susceptibility as a function of processing parameters is presented for single tracks of LPBF processed(LPBFed)high strength Al–Cu–Mg–Mn alloy.The hot cracking in single tracks of LPBFed Al–Cu–Mg–Mn alloy is solidification cracking based on the experimental observations of microstructure.Combining Rosenthal simulations and spreading behavior of a single droplet,the critical scanning speed of single track with balling phenomenon was obtained.It was found that when the laser power was 200 W,the scanning speed exceeded 440.1 mm/s,the droplet will not be able to spread completely,which is consistent with the experimental result of 500 mm/s.Through the calculation and analysis of the microstructure and the existence time of the molten pool,it was pointed out that the reduction in the liquid phase caused by the high scanning speed,the shortening of the solidification time and the high stress caused by the high-temperature gradient promoted the generation of hot cracking.In summary,this work contains a practical guide to optimize processing parameters of LPBFed Al–Cu–Mg–Mn alloys,which provides a basis for fabricating thin walls and cubic samples without hot cracking.

Study of rare earth element effect on microstructures and mechanical properties of an Al-Cu-Mg-Si cast alloy

The improvements of microstructures and properties of a high strength aluminum cast alloy were studied. The effects of rare earth elements on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the high strength cast alloy Al-Cu-Mg-Si were investigated. The result shows that the addition of rare earth elements can change the microstructures in refining the grain size of the alloy and making the needle-like and laminar eutectic Si to a granular Si. With the increase of the rare earth, the tensile strength and elongation of the alloy increase first and then fall down. The mechanical properties of the alloy will reach the highest value when the content of rare earth elements is about 0.7%.

Through-thickness heterogeneity in creep properties of friction stir welding 7B50-T7451 aluminum alloy thick plate joint:Experiments and modeling

Through-thickness heterogeneity in creep properties of 7B50-T7451 aluminum alloy Friction Stir Welding(FSW)joints was investigated.Creep tests for three slices of the FSW joint were conducted at the temperature of 150-200℃ and applied stress of 60-225 MPa.The theta projection method was used to predict creep curves and minimum creep rate.The results show that the minimum creep rate increases and creep rupture life decreases with the increase of creep temperature and applied stress.Creep properties of the FSW joint deteriorate along the thickness direction from the top to the bottom.The threshold stress of all three slices of the FSW joint decreases with the increase of creep temperature and even disappears at 200℃ for the bottom slice.Creep activation energy approaches the activation energy of the lattice self-diffusion of aluminum.The value of true stress exponent for different slices is approximately equal to three.The predominant creep mechanism of the FSW joint is dislocation viscous glide by lattice self-diffusion.What is more,a constitutive model is established based on the theta method to accurately describe creep behavior ofdifferent slices of the FSW joint.

Tensile ductility improvement of AlSi9Cu1 alloy by chemical composition optimization

Diesel engines, characterized by higher breakout pressure and compression ratio in comparison with gasoline engines, require particularly elevated tensile properties for their engine parts. In order to maintain both high strength and high ductility in the cylinder head, i.e., to obtain higher percent elongation without further reducing the tensile strength, Al Si9Cu1 alloy was used to prepare the cylinder head in an aluminum diesel engine. At the same time, the effect of different modification elements, Na or Sr, and Fe content on the reduction of secondary dendrite arm spacing(SDAS) was discussed, and the design of T7 heat treatment parameters were analyzed in order to improve the tensile ductility. The result shows:(1) The SDAS is as small as 18±3 μm for the Sr modified alloy.(2) The percent elongation of the alloy with Sr modification increases by 66.7% and 42.9%, respectively, compared with the unmodified alloy and the alloy with Na modification.(3) Lower Fe content alloy(0.10%) gives good results in percent elongation compared to the alloy with higher Fe content(0.27%); in particular, after Sr modification and T7 heat treatment, the elongation of over 5% is obtained.