Effect Of Filler Wire Composition And Metallic Coating On The Joint Performance Of Aluminium/steel Braze-welds

摘要

Joining of steel to aluminium increasingly finds interest in all industry sectors, especially in the automotive industry where reduction in weight to improve fuel consumption is essential. However, fusion joining these two materials tends to be problematic due to the large differences in their physical and chemical properties. Nonetheless, there are currently a number of joining methods available or being researched for this purpose. One example can be found in the modern low heat-input MIG/MAG welding variants, namely the Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) variant. In this article, the characteristics of various aluminium/steel joints produced with CMT are investigated. More specifically, the influence on the braze-weld characteristics of two different metallic coatings for the steel was investigated, as well as the effect of different filler wire compositions. Evaluation of the braze-welds was made in terms of the intermetallic layer thickness, joint performance and corrosion behaviour.