Friction plug−riveting spot welding of AA 7075-T6 aluminum alloy and low carbon steel using 1045 steel rivet

7075-T6 aluminum alloy/low carbon steel joint was carried out via a novel friction plug−riveting spot welding process.This process utilized uniquely designed steel rivets with a tip and groove shape.The macro-morphology formation,microstructure,microhardness and lap shear performance of joints were investigated.As the spindle down distance increased,the rivet tip was friction welded with the lower steel sheet,resulting in the formation of a solid phase welding zone exhibiting metallurgical bonding.Additionally,a hook was formed in the joint,providing the mechanical locking.The results showed that under optimal parameters of spindle down distance of 3.4 mm,rotation speed of 4000 r/min,and spindle down speed of 2.4 mm/s,the lap shear load of the joints reached a maximum of 14.36 kN.Failure occurred at the aluminum alloy base metal.

Effect of process parameters on the morphology of aluminum/copper alloy lap joints by red and blue hybrid laser welding

In order to overcome the problems of many pores,large deformation and unstable weld quality of traditional laser welded aluminumcopper alloy joints,a red-blue dual-beam laser source and a swinging laser were introduced for welding.T2 copper and 6063 aluminum thin plates were lap welded by coaxial dual-beam laser welding.The morphology of weld cross section was compared to explore the influence of process parameters on the formation of lap joints.The microstructure characteristics of the weld zone were observed and compared by optical microscope.The results show that the addition of laser beam swing can eliminate the internal pores of the weld.With the increase of the swing width,the weld depth decreases,and the weld width increases first and then decreases.The influence of welding speed on the weld cross section morphology is similar to that of swing width.With the increase of welding speed,the weld width increases first and then decreases,while the weld depth decreases all the time.This is because that the red laser is used as the main heat source to melt the base metals,with the increase of red laser power,the weld depth increases.As an auxiliary laser source,blue laser reduces the total energy consumption,consequently,the effective heat input increases and the spatter is restrained effectively.As a result,the increase of red laser power has an enhancement effect on the weld width and weld depth.When the swing width is 1.2 mm,the red laser power is 550 W,the blue laser power is 500 W,and the welding speed is 35 mm/s,the weld forming is the best.The lap joint of T2 copper and 6063 aluminum alloy thin plate can be connected stably with the hybrid of blue laser.The effect rules of laser beam swing on the weld formation were obtained,which improved the quality of the joints.

Effect of materials on the forming characteristics of laser-MIG hybrid welding process with filler wire for aluminum alloy

In this study,the test subjects included the aluminum alloys 2A14 and 5A06,as well as the welding wires ER2319 and ER5356,single laser welding,laser welding with filler wire,laser metal inert gas(laser-MIG)hybrid welding and laser-MIG hybrid welding with filler wire were carried out respectively to research the influence of aluminum alloy base material and welding wire on weld forming charac-teristics.The results show that:under the same test conditions,the penetration of the base material 5A06 is greater than that of 2A14,the maximum is about 51.3%,and the penetration filling ER5356 is greater than that of ER2319,the maximum is about 32.2%;for 2A14 alu-minum alloy,the penetration is basically unchanged after filling with ER5356,and there is a relatively large decrease after filling ER2319,the maximum is about 21.2%;for 5A06 aluminum alloy,the penetration decreases after filling both kinds of welding wire,the penetration achieved with filler wire ER2319 is lower than that of ER5356.At the same time,through the process of laser absorption in different metal materials,it was found that the differences in material composition led to different laser absorption rates,resulting in different energy utiliza-tion,which is an important reason for the correlation between aluminum alloy materials and laser-MIG hybrid welding with filler wire.

Refilled friction stir spot welding of dissimilar Q235 low-carbon steel/5052 aluminum with equal thickness

The welding characteristics of 5052 aluminum alloy and Q235 low-carbon steel sheet were systematically studied by the refilled friction stir spot welding.The effects of rotation speed and pressure speed on weld forming,tensile strength,and welded joint structure were analyzed in different welding modes.The results indicated two different connection modes:the chimeric mode and the non-chimeric mode.The corresponding depression depth are 2 and 2.4 mm,respectively.In the non-chimeric connection mode,the steel/aluminum metallurgical interface is a smooth transition,the hook structure is obvious,and the welding mechanism mainly depends on the mutual diffusion between atoms.However,in the chimeric mode,a hook structure will be formed at the metallurgical interface of steel and aluminum.The connection mechanism is determined by mechanical interlocking and mutual diffusion.The maximum strength value is 7.48 kN in non-chimeric mode.At this time,the spindle speed is 1300 r/min and the pressure speed is 1 mm/s.There were two types of fractures:the button fracture mode and the peel fracture mode.

Laser-pulsed MIG hybrid welding technology of A6N01S aluminum alloy

Welding research of A6N01S-T5 aluminum alloy profile for high-speed train was done by using laser-MIG hybrid welding and MIG welding individually. And the weld appearance,welding distortion,mechanical properties of the joints and microstructures were analyzed. The test results demonstrated that high-efficient welding for the profile can be achieved by using laser-MIG hybrid welding,the speed of which can be over 3. 0 m/min. The processing had a good gap bridging ability,even if the gap of the butt joint was up to 2. 0 mm,a good weld appearance can also be got. While the hybrid welding speed was greater than 2. 5 m/min,the welding distortion of the laser-tandem MIG hybrid joints was just about 33% of that of the MIG joints,but the welding efficiency was over 3 times of MIG welding. And tensile strength of the hybrid joints was 85% of that of A6N01S-T5 base metal,9% higher than that of the MIG joints. Fatigue properties was tested individually with pulsed tensile fatigue method in the condition of 1 × 10~7 lifetime. The test results demonstrated that the fatigue strength of the joints was a little lower than that of base material,which could be up to 115 MPa. But the fatigue strength of hybrid welding joints was 107. 5 MPa,which was 23% higher than 87 MPa of MIG welding joints.

Characteristic of laser-MIG hybrid welding with filling additional cold wire for aluminum alloy

The weld appearance, deposition rate, welding efficiency, stability of arc, laser keyhole characteristic, and weld property were studied by using a novel laser-MIG hybrid welding process with filling wire of aluminum alloy. The results were also compared with those by conventional laser-MIG hybrid welding process. It was found that with the suitable process parameters this novel welding process for aluminum alloy was stable and final weld bead had fine appearance. Compared to conventional laser-MIG hybrid welding process, during this novel welding process the stability of arc, the laser keyhole characteristic and the weld property were similar, while the keyhole cycle frequency and keyhole opening area had differences of 1.23% and 15.34%, respectively, and the welding efficiency increased by about 31% without increasing heat input.

Study on the effect of welding current during laser beam-resistance seam welding of aluminum alloy 5052

The effect of welding current on the weld shape and tensile shear load during laser beam-resistance seam welding （LB-RSW） of aluminum alloy 5052 is studied. Experimental results show that the penetration depth, weld width ,tensile shear load and the ratio of penetration depth to weld width of LB-RSW are bigger than those of laser beam welding（ LBW） under the same conditions and the former three parameters increase as welding current rises. The weld shape of LB-RSW below 5 kA welding current is nearly the same as that of LBW. The weld morphology is protuberant under the condition of 5 kA welding current and 0. 8 m/min welding speed. Furthermore, the microstructure of the weld seam of LB-RSW is coarser than that of LBW.

Microstructure,properties and first principles calculation of titanium alloy/steel by Nd: YAG laser self-fluxing welding

The experiment of Nd： YAG pulsed laser self-fluxing welding for 304 stainless steel/Ti6Al4V titanium alloy dissimilar metal was carried out. The microstructure properties of welded joint were analyzed by SEM, EDS and XRD. The equilibrium lattice constants, enthalpies of formation, cohesive energies, mechanical properties, Debye temperatures and valence electron structures of Ti-Fe intermetallic compounds （IMCs） were calculated by the first principle pseudopotential plane wave method based on density functional theory （DFT）. According to the thermodynamic data of Ti-Fe-Cr compounds, the Gibbs free energy per mole of compound at different temperatures was calculated and their thermal stability was compared. The results show that there are no macroscopic cracks in the welded joints, and the IMCs distributed evenly along the welding interface exhibits 3 distinct layers of microstructure with different colors. The welds interface generates IMCs of TiFe, TiFe 2 and a small amount of Ti 5Cr 7Fe 17 IMCs. Ti-Fe IMCs with high thermodynamic stability and easy alloying formation. The results of Gibbs free energies show that the sequence of precipitates in the interface is Ti 5Cr 7Fe 17 , TiFe 2 and TiFe in high temperature during the metallurgical reaction. The G/B values of Ti-Fe IMCs are greater than the critical value of 0.5, indicating that it is an intrinsic brittleness.

Improving pulsed laser weldability of duplex stainless steel to 5456 aluminum alloy via friction stir process reinforcing of aluminum by BNi-2 brazing alloy

Effects of laser pulse distance and reinforcing of 5456 aluminum alloy were investigated on laser weldability of Al alloy to duplex stainless steel (DSS) plates. The aluminum alloy plate was reinforced by nickel-base BNi-2 brazing powder via friction stir processing. The DSS plates were laser welded to the Al5456/BNi-2 composite and also to the Al5456 alloy plates. The welding zones were studied by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, micro-hardness and shear tests. The weld interface layer became thinner from 23 to 5 μm, as the laser pulse distance was increased from 0.2 to 0.5 mm. Reinforcing of the Al alloy modified the phases at interface layer from Al-Fe intermetallic compounds (IMCs) in the DSS/Al alloy weld, to Al-Ni-Fe IMCs in the DSS/Al composite one, since more nickel was injected in the weld pool by BNi-2 reinforcements. This led to a remarkable reduction in crack tendency of the welds and decreased the hardness of the interface layer from ~950 HV to ~600 HV. Shear strengths of the DSS/Al composite welds were significantly increased by ~150%, from 46 to 114 MPa, in comparison to the DSS/Al alloy ones.

Joint performance of CO_2 laser beam welding 5083-H321 aluminum alloy

Laser beam welding of aluminum alloys is expected to offer good mechanical properties of welded joints. In this experimental work reported, CO2 laser beam autogenoas welding and wire feed welding are conducted on 4 mm thick 5083- H321 aluminum alloy sheets at different welding variables. The mechanical properties and microstructure characteristics of the welds are evaluated through tensile tests, micro-hardness tests, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. Experimental results indicate that both the tensile strength and hardness of laser beam welds are affected by the constitution of filler material, except the yield strength. The soften region of laser beam welds is not in the heat-affected zone （ HAZ ）. The tensile fracture of laser beam welded specimens takes place in the weld zone and close to the weld boundary because of different filler materials. Some pores are found on the fracture face, including hydrogen porosities and blow holes, but these pores have no influence on the tensile strength of laser beam welds. Tensile strength values of laser beam welds with filler wire are up to 345.57 MPa, 93% of base material values, and yield strengths of laser beam welds are equivalent to those of base metal （264. 50 MPa）.

Microstructural analyses of aluminum–magnesium–silicon alloys welded by pulsed Nd: YAG laser welding

Revealing grains and very fine dendrites in a solidified weld metal of aluminum–magnesium–silicon alloys is difficult and thus,there is no evidence to validate the micro-and meso-scale physical models for hot cracks. In this research, the effect of preheating on the microstructure and hot crack creation in the pulsed laser welding of AA 6061 was investigated by an optical microscope and field emission electron microscopy. Etching was carried out in the gas phase using fresh Keller’s reagent for 600 s. The results showed that the grain size of the weld metal was proportional to the grain size of the base metal and was independent of the preheating temperature. Hot cracks passed the grain boundaries of the weld and the base metal. Lower solidification rates in the preheated samples led to coarser arm spacing;therefore, a lower cooling rate. Despite the results predicted by the micro and meso-scale models, lower cooling rates resulted in increased hot cracks. The cracks could grow in the weld metal after solidification;therefore, hot cracks were larger than predicted by the hot crack prediction models.

Effects of welding parameters and tool geometry on properties of 3003-H18 aluminum alloy to mild steel friction stir weld

Defect-free butt joints of 3003 Al alloy to mild steel plates with 3 mm thickness were performed using friction stir welding （FSW）. A heat input model reported for similar FSW was simplified and used to investigate the effects of welding speed, rotation speed and tool shoulder diameter on the microstructure and properties of dissimilar welds. The comparison between microstructure, intermetallics and strength of welds shows the good conformity between the results and the calculated heat input factor （HIF） achieved from the model. The joint strength is controlled by Al/Fe interface at HIF of 0.2-0.4, by TMAZ at HIF of 0.4-0.8 and by intermetallics and/or defects at HIF0.8.

Weldability evaluation and tensile strength estimation model for aluminum alloy lap joint welding using hybrid system with laser and scanner head

Aluminum welding using a hybrid system with a laser and scanner welding head was performed under various welding conditions to verify the feasibility of applying an aluminum alloy to a car body.The experimental material was 5J32 aluminum alloy,and the laser power,welding speed,and laser incidence angle were used as the control variables.The weld bead shape and the tensile shear strength were evaluated in order to understand the aluminum lap joint weld characteristics.Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to identify the effect of the process variables on the tensile shear strength.Tensile strength estimation models using three different regression models were also suggested.The input variables were the laser power,welding speed,and laser incidence angle,and the output was the tensile shear strength.Among the models,the second-order polynomial estimation model had the best estimation performance,and the average error rate of this model was 0.058.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of laser beam welding 6061 aluminum alloy with different states

With the diversification of manufacture methods, joining the same materials with different states becomes indispensable in practical application. In present work, 6061 aluminum alloys with different states were welded by laser beam welding （LBW）. The microstructures of welded joint, before and after heat treating, were investigated. The mechanical properties, such as the tensile properties and microhardness , were tested. And the fracture characteristic was observed by means of scanning electron microscope （SEM）. The results show that the 6061 aluminum alloys have superior weldability and the microstructures are different significantly in different states. Besides, the grain boundaries of the joint microstructures become unclear after the heat treating. The strength and the elongations of welded joints could reach to those of the base metal. The tensile fracture occurs in the fusion zone and near 6061-0 alloy. And the fracture presents ductile rupture. Therefore, the LBW is an effective method for 6061 aluminum alloy.

Laser welding of 6061 aluminum alloy sheet with surfactant

Aluminum alloy shows low absorption to laser for its essential high reflection property. In this paper, an active laser welding process is adopted to weld 6061 aluminum alloy with the halide suocactant coated on sheet surface to improve the welding quality. The sheets with surfactant are welded under a series of welding parameters of laser power and welding speed while the plasma plumes in the welding process are recorded by high-speed camera. Then a metaUographic analysis and a transverse tensile test are implemented to assess the sheet butt joint property. The experiments show that the weld depth is deepened and the plasma plume is smaller with surfactant. A well formed weld of 1 mm-thickness sheet of 6061 aluminum alloy can be obtained under laser power of 920 W, welding speed of 7 mm/s, zero defocusing-amount and an argon shielding gas flow of 30 L/min.

Superplastic solid state welding of steel and copper alloy based on laser quenching of steel surface

Based on the feasibility of isothermal superplastic solid state welding of steel and copper alloy, the welded surface of steel surface was ultra-fined through laser quenching, and then the welding process tests between different base metals of 40Cr and QCr0.5 were made under the condition of non vacuum and non shield gas. The experimental results show that, with the sample surface of steel after laser quenching and that of copper alloy carefully cleaned, and under the pre-pressed stress of 56.684.9 MPa, at the welding temperature of 750800 ℃ and at initial strain rate of （2.57.5）×10-4 s-1, the solid state welding can be finished in 120180 s so that the strength of the joint is up to that of QCr0.5 base metal and the expansion rate of the joint does not exceed 6%. The plastic deformation of the joint was further analysed. The superplastic deformation of the copper alloy occurs in welding process and the deformation of steel are little.

Experimental study on dissimilar TIG welding-brazing of 5A06 aluminum alloy to SUS321 stainless steel

Dissimilar metals TIG welding-brazing of 5A06 aluminum alloy to SUS321 stainless steel has been carried out with Al-Sil2 eutectic filler metal and modified non-corrosive flux. The surface appearance and microstructures of the joint were analyzed and the average tensile strength of the joint was estimated. The results show that a sound dissimilar metals joint is obtained by TIG welding-brazing. Slag and residual flux on steel surface can be removed by sanding easily. The joint has dual characteristics： in aluminum alloy side, it is a welded joint, while in stainless steel side, it is a brazed joint. The whole interface layer, unequal in thickness at different position, ranges from 5 μm to 25 μm. The average tensile strength of the butt joint reaches 120 MPa and the fracture occurs at the interface layer.

Grain refining in weld metal using short-pulsed laser ablation during CW laser welding of 2024-T3 aluminum alloy

The 2024 aluminum alloy is used extensively in the aircraft and aerospace industries because of its excellent mechanical properties.However,the weldability of 2024 aluminum alloy is generally low because it contains a high number of solutes,such as copper(Cu),magnesium(Mg),and manganese(Mn),causing solidification cracking.If high speed welding of 2024 aluminum alloy without the use of filler is achieved,the applicability of 2024 aluminum alloys will expand.Grain refining is one of the methods used to prevent solidification cracking in weld metal,although it has never been achieved for high-speed laser welding of 2024 aluminum alloy without filler.Here,we propose a short-pulsed,laser-induced,grain-refining method during continuous wave laser welding without filler.Bead-on-plate welding was performed on a 2024-T3 aluminum alloy at a welding speed of 1 m min−1 with a single mode fiber laser at a wavelength of 1070 nm and power of 1 kW.Areas in and around the molten pool were irradiated with nanosecond laser pulses at a wavelength of 1064 nm,pulse width of 10 ns,and pulse energy of 430 mJ.The grain-refinement effect was confirmed when laser pulses were irradiated on the molten pool.The grain-refinement region was formed in a semicircular shape along the solid–liquid interface.Results of the vertical section indicate that the grain-refinement region reached a depth of 1 mm along the solid–liquid interface.The Vickers hardness test results demonstrated that the hardness increased as a result of grain refinement and that the progress of solidification cracking was suppressed in the grain refinement region.

Analysis on interfacial layer of aluminum alloy and non-coated stainless steel joint made by TIG welding-brazing

Dissimilar metals TIG welding-brazing of aluminum alloy and non-coated stainless steel was investigated. The resultant joint was characterized in order to identify the phases and the brittle intermetallic compounds （IMCs） in the interracial layer by optical metalloscope （OM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and energy dispersive spectrometer （ EDS） , and the cracked joint was analyzed in order to understand the cracking mechanism of the joint. The results show that the microfusion of the stainless steel can improve the wetting and spreading of liquid aluminum base filler metal on the steel suuface and the melted steel accelerates the formation of mass of brittle IMCs in the interracial layer, which causes the joint cracking badly. The whole interfacial layer is 5 -7 μm thick and comprises approximately 5μm-thickness reaction layer in aluminum side and about 2 μm-thickness diffusion layer in steel side. The stable Al-rich IMCs are formed in the interfacial layer and the phases transfer from （ Al ＋ FeAl3 ） in aluminum side to （ FeAl3 ＋ Fe2Al5 ） and （ α-Fe ＋ FeAl） in steel side.

Structure and mechanical properties of aluminum alloy/Ag interlayer/steel non-centered electron beam welded joints

Electron beam welding was carried out between aluminum alloy and steel with Ag interlayer. Seam morphology, structure and mechanical properties of the joints were investigated with different action positions of the electron beam spot. The results show that with the increment of the beam offset to the silver side from the interface between silver and steel, the seam morphology was improved, and the porosity in the Ag interlayer vanished. A transition layer mainly composed of Ag2Al and Al eutectic was formed at the interface between silver and aluminum, and became thin and spiccato as the beam offset increased. When the beam offset was too large, two IMC layers composed of FeAl and FeAl3 respectively were formed at the interface between steel and Ag interlayer. The optimal beam offset was 0.2 mm, and the maximum tensile strength of the joint was 193 MPa, 88.9% that of the aluminum alloy, and the fracture occurred at the interface between steel and Ag interlayer.