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Design of friction stir welding for butt joining of aluminum to steel of dissimilar thickness: heat treatment and fracture behavior

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Abstract

A 5-mm-thick aluminum sheet (Al) was successfully welded by friction stir welding (FSW) to a 3-mm-thick carbon steel (St) in a butt configuration. For this purpose, a new joint design was used where a support plate was employed under the St part and an insert layer made of steel was used between the support plate and the Al part. A stationary shoulder was also considered in the joint design. After welding, an intermetallic compound (IMC) layer of FeAl with less than 3 μm thickness was obtained along the bond line. The joint was then tested in tensile loading conditions. An abrupt load drop was observed during the test, which was due to crack propagation from pre-existed cracks in the IMC layer. A cohesion zone model (CZM) was used to simulate the fracture behavior of the joints and obtain the fracture energy of the IMC layer. Based on the CZM results, the fracture energy of the as-welded and heat-treated joints was obtained as 0.2 and 0.13 N/mm, respectively. A comprehensive analysis of the joints showed that the irregularities and fragments of steel in the IMC layer delay the propagation of cracks. Consequently, a higher fracture energy is obtained with respect to the heat-treated joint, in which a continuous IMC layer exists.

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Funding

The authors acknowledge the funding under the reference “UIDP/50022/2020 - LAETA - Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Engineering and Metallurgy, Faculty of Engineering, Arak University, Arak, 38156-8-8349, Iran

    R. Beygi & M. Zarezadeh Mehrizi

  2. Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (INEGI), Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    R. Beygi, A. Akhavan-Safar & L. F. M. da Silva

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran, 16846, Iran

    S. Safaei

  4. CEMMPRE, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica, Universidade de Coimbra, Rua Luís Reis Santos, 3030-788, Coimbra, Portugal

    A. Loureiro

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465, Porto, Portugal

    L. F. M. da Silva

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  1. R. Beygi
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  2. M. Zarezadeh Mehrizi
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Correspondence to R. Beygi.

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Beygi, R., Zarezadeh Mehrizi, M., Akhavan-Safar, A. et al. Design of friction stir welding for butt joining of aluminum to steel of dissimilar thickness: heat treatment and fracture behavior. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 112, 1951–1964 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-06406-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-020-06406-3

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