Dissimilar Joining of Aluminum Alloy and Steel by Resistance Spot Welding

Joining of dissimilar materials

“…Zhang et al [298] used scanning electron microscopy of a partially failed tensile specimen to clearly show crack initiation at the interfacial IMC layer (chiefly Fe 2 Al 5 phase) and propagation through the IMC layer and partially through the Al alloy fusion zone adjacent to the IMC layer. The cross-tension results [163] from 6000-series Al welded to low-C steel indicate peak strengths below an IMC layer thickness of 2 mm with a significant drop in properties at 4 mm with little variation in the range 4-12 mm, refer to Fig. 15.…”

“…It can easily be automated, is very flexible, and since the weld gun electrodes are clamped, small gaps between the sheets can be levelled. A number of researchers have applied RSW to dissimilar Al-steel joints [91,163,181,191,232,257,267,297], as well as material combinations including Mg-steel [138], glasssteel [78], Cu-Ni plated steel [178], stainless steel-Ti [253], Ti-Al [193], and Al-Mg [90,106]. The benefits of enabling the RSW of Alsteel would be the re-use of existing infrastructure to join both like and dissimilar material combinations and the significant cost avoidance necessary to retool for a new joining process.…”

“…Points of localized breakdown along the faying interface concentrate current and result in increased temperature leading to localized melting of the aluminium. Miyamoto et al [163] addressed the issue of the oxide along the faying interface with zinc-coated steels. Their approach was to heat the stack-up so that he zinc coating melts and reacts with the aluminium to form an Al-Zn eutectic phase.…”

A Review on Al-Al/Al-Steel Resistance Spot Welding Technologies for Light Weight Vehicles

“…To achieve a thin and uniform IMC layer, Miyamoto et al 15) developed and discussed a new technique to join Al-steel by using Al-Zn eutectic reaction. In that studies, eutectic reaction was used to remove oxide layer form the surface of Al alloy hence it inhibits the formation of a thick Fe-Al IMC layer.…”

Effects of Zn-Based Alloys Coating on Mechanical Properties and Interfacial Microstructures of Steel/Aluminum Alloy Dissimilar Metals Joints Using Resistance Spot Welding

“…1,3,4) The effective removal of the oxide film is the application of zinc coating between steel and aluminum alloy through the melt of zinc. 4) As for the melt of Zn-based alloys, it is well known that the eutectic point of Al-Zn binary alloy and Al-Mg-Zn ternary alloy is lower than the melting point of zinc. 5) Therefore, it is expected that the lower temperature bonding is achieved using Al-Zn binary and Al-Mg-Zn ternary coatings through eutectic reaction at lower temperature.…”