Feasibility of Using TIG Welding in Dissimilar Metals between Steel/Aluminum Alloy

Abstract

Problem statement: Currently, in order to suppress intermetallic reaction layer formation during dissimilar metals welding between steel/aluminum alloy, only laser beam welding as selfbrazing technique has been applied. However, TIG welding process might be one of welding process candidate for joining dissimilar metals welding between steel/aluminum alloys due to its capability in joining thin section. In the present study, the feasibility of application of TIG welding process in joining dissimilar metals between steel/aluminum alloy was evaluated. Approach: In order to realize the feasibility of TIG welding process, bead on the steel sheet experiment and dissimilar metals welding experiment was carried out. Results: From bead on the steel sheet experimental results, TIG welding could produce the partial penetration welding in 1 mm thickness steel sheet. In dissimilar metals welding experiment, TIG welding process as a self-brazing technique could successfully join dissimilar metal between steel and aluminum alloy. Moreover, the load resistance of bonded zone of dissimilar metals joints was higher than the load resistance of A1100 aluminum alloy after welding. Conclusion: These results indicated that TIG welding process is feasible to be dissimilar metals welding candidate for joining steel/aluminum alloy.

Lap joint dissimilar welding of aluminium AA6061 and galvanized iron using TIG welding

“…The advantages include low cost and a weight-optimization body with high stiffness, reduction of material waste and energy saving [19]. To date, aluminium-steel welding has been performed using a vast number of welding methods, which include arc welding [15,[19][20][21], laser welding [22] and friction stir welding (FSW) [23]. In arc welding of aluminium-steel, previous studies show that tungsten inert gas (TIG) is preferable to metal inert gas (MIG) welding.…”

“…This is because [12,15,23,24]: the TIG arc is stable even at low currents, making welding of thin parts possible; it produces a very good weld quality, and is an ideal candidate for aluminium welding. However, due to the large difference between their melting points, the nearly zero solid solubility of iron in aluminium, and the formation of brittle intermetallic compounds (IMC) such as Fe2Al5 and FeAl3, the difficulty in its fabrication becomes twofold [15,20,25,26]. Utilizing galvanized iron (GI) as the ferrous base metal has been shown to facilitate aluminium-steel welding.…”

“…This can be attributed to the existence of a thin Zn layer on the GI surface. This layer assists in the welding process because Zn has good metallurgical compatibility with both aluminium and steel [15,20,27,28]. Other than that, many researchers have also pointed out that the base and filler metal elements have a significant effect on the joint strength [29][30][31].…”

GTAW of Zinc-Coated Steel and Aluminum Alloy

“…Although, the dissimilar metals welding between steel and aluminum alloys was first published for more than 70 years ago [1], the difficulty to suppress the intermetallic compound phase, which is the severe problems in dissimilar metals welding between steel and aluminum alloys, is still the challenge for welding technologists. Up to now, the most successful welding technique to suppress intermetallic compound phase during welding between bare steel and aluminum alloys is to apply solid state mixing by friction stir welding process, and friction welding, or to apply self-brazing techniques with laser welding, TIG welding, hybrid welding, metal inert gas welding process, etc., as refer in the references [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. However, in some cases, especially for the welding of steel components, which is frequently in direct contact with water and high humidity environment during application, zinc-coated steel is seriously required in order to improve corrosion resistance of steel.…”

Modal Analysis of Dissimilar Plate Metal Joining with Different Thicknesses using MIG Welding

“…The Al-Cu filler metal spreads fully on the steel surface to form a sound joint. The joint has typical welding-brazing dual characteristics: on the aluminum alloy side, the base metal with a low melting point is a welding joint, which mixes with the molten filler metal to form a fusion area, while on the stainless steel side, the steel surface with a high melting point is a brazing joint, which reacts with the molten filler metal to form the brazing interface layer (Borrisutthekul, Mitsomwang, Rattanachan, & Mutoh, 2010;Wang et al, 2012).The hybrid component has a higher technical and economic potential. The vibration characteristic is a frequent problem that affects the result of joining dissimilar materials such as aluminum alloys and stainless steel by welding.…”