Materials Characterization 58 (2007) 588 592

Interfacial microstructure and mechanical properties of aluminiumzinc-coated steel joints made by a modified metal inert gas weldingbrazing process
H.T. Zhang a,, J.C. Feng a , P. He a , H. Hackl b
a

State Key Laboratory of Advanced Welding Production Technology, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, Heilongjiang Province, PR China b Fronius. Internation GMBH, A4600 Wels-Thalheim, Austria Received 10 May 2006; accepted 4 July 2006

Abstract The microstructure and properties of aluminiumzinc coated steel lap joints made by a modified metal inert gas CMT welding brazing process was investigated. It was found that the nature and the thickness of the high-hardness intermetallic compound layer which formed at the interface between the steel and the weld metal during the welding process varied with the heat inputs. From the results of tensile tests, the welding process is shown to be capable of providing sound aluminiumzinc coated steel joints. 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Weldingbrazing; Heat input; Intermetallic compound

1. Introduction In order to reduce pollution and save energy, it is attractive to make car bodies lighter by introducing some aluminium parts as substitutes for the previous steel structures [1,2]. Therefore, joining aluminium to steel has become a major problem, requiring resolution. Direct solid-state joining can be used to make these dissimilar metal joints by controlling the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer that develops within a few micrometers of the joint interface [39]. However, the shape and size of such solid-state joints are extremely restricted. Thus, the joining of aluminium to steel by
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 451 86412974; fax: +86 451 86418146. E-mail address: hitzht@yahoo.com.cn (H.T. Zhang). 1044-5803/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.matchar.2006.07.008

fusion welding methods has been widely studied. As is well known, the joining of aluminium to steel by fusion welding is difficult because of the formation of brittle interface phases which can deteriorate the mechanical properties of the joints. However, Kreimeyer and Sepold [10] have shown that if the layer is less than 10 m thick, the joint will be mechanically sound. In addition, the authors also deem that the existence of a zinc coating increases the wettability of the Al to the steel substrate. As another approach, Achar et al. [11] reported that the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer formed during TIG arc welding of Al to steel is decreased by the use of an Al alloy filler metal containing Si. Murakami et al. [12] and Mathieu et al. [13] both point out that the temperature probably determines the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer of the joint and recommended the use of lower heat input to obtain a sound joint.

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The cold metal transfer process, identified here as CMT, is a modified metal inert gas welding process which invented by the Fronius Company. The principal innovation of this method is that the motions of the welding wire have been integrated into the welding process and into the overall control of the process. Every time the short circuit occurs, the digital process-control both interrupts the power supply and controls the retraction of the wire. The wire retraction motion assists droplet detachment during the short circuit, thus greatly decreasing the heat input during welding. In this study, we selected the CMT process to join aluminium to zinc-coated steel using a lap geometry. The main purpose of this effort was to reveal the relationship between heat input and the microstructure of the joint. Hardness testing was also used to characterize the phases formed during the welding process. In addition, the quality of the joints was assessed by tensile testing. 2. Experimental Deep drawn sheets of hot-dip galvanized steel and sheets of pure Al 1060 with thickness of 1 mm were used in the welding experiments. An Al sheet was lapped over a Zn-coated steel sheet on the special clamping fixture, and the ending of the weld wire was aimed at the edge of the aluminium sheet, as shown in Fig. 1. The MIG weldingbrazing was carried out using the CMT welding source with an expert system and 1.2-mm-diameter Al Si filler metal wire. Argon was used as the shielding gas at a flow rate of 15 L/min. The surface of the samples was cleaned by acetone before welding. Two sets of welding parameters of different heat inputs were selected, as shown in Table 1. The heat input, J, is calculated using the equation: J = (60 UI)/v, where U is the mean welding voltage, I is the mean welding current and v is the welding speed.

Table 1 The welding parameters Sample number Mean welding current (A) 66 110 Mean welding voltage (V) 11.8 13.3 Wire feed rate (m/min) 3.9 5.4 Welding speed (mm/min) 762 913 Weld heat input (J/cm) 613.2 961.5

Sample A Sample B

Typical transverse sections of the samples were observed using optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The composition of the intermetallic compound layer at the interface between the steel and the weld metal was determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Hardness values were obtained using a microindentation hardness tester with a load of 10 g, and a load time of 10 s. In addition, the samples were cut in 10 mm widths, and transverse tensile tests (perpendicular to the welding direction) were used to measure the joint tensile strength.

Fig. 1. Schematic plan of the welding process.

Fig. 2. Front (upper) and back (lower) appearances of typical joints with different heat inputs: (a) Sample A; (b) Sample B.

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3. Results and discussion 3.1. Macro- and microstructures The appearance of the weld seams for different heat inputs are shown in Fig. 2. For all welding cases, a smooth weld seam was made. The molten metal wetted the steel better when using lower heat input, i.e., compare Sample A at lower heat input to Sample B. This may be related to the different degree of evaporation of the zinc coating at different heat inputs. While improving the heat input, the greater evaporation of zinc reduces the wettability of the molten metal on the steel. Fig. 3 shows a typical cross-section of the joints. Higher heat input (Sample B) resulted in a decrease in the contact angle between the steel and the weld metal. Meanwhile, a special zone with lighter colour at the toe of the weldments can be found (designated by white arrows in Fig. 3). Optical micrographs shows that a visible intermetallic compound layer has formed between the steel and weld metal during the welding process, Fig. 4. The thickness of the intermetallic compound layer changes not only with the location within a given joint but also with the varying heat input between different joints. The thickness of the intermetallic compound layer in the center is greater than at the edge of the seam within one joint. For Sample A, the maximum thickness of the compound layer is about 10 m but is 4050 m for Sample B. The microstructure of the intermetallic compound is shown in greater detail in the SEM micrographs in

Fig. 4. Optical microstructures of interface between steel and weld metal: (a) Sample A; (b) Sample B.

Fig. 3. Cross-section image at limit of penetration in the joint, showing change in contact angle with increased heat input. Arrows point to an intermetallic compound at the tip of the weld metal: (a) Sample A; (b) Sample B.

Fig. 5. At lower heat input (Sample A), the intermetallic compound presents a serrated shape oriented toward the weld metal. When the heat input was increased (Sample B), the compound layer became much thicker and grew into the weld metal with tonguelike penetrations. Anisotropic diffusion is a possible explanation for this irregularity. The intermetallic compounds that form under these conditions generally have an orthorhombic structure (see below). Because of the high vacancy concentration along the c-axis of the orthorhombic structure, Al atoms can diffuse rapidly in this direction and cause rapid growth of the intermetallic compound. EDX analysis was used to determine the phases of the intermetallic compound layer. The results show that the intermetallic compound layer of the joint made by lower heat input consists entirely of Fe2Al5. But when the heat input is increased, the intermetallic compound layer consists of two different phases, the FeAl2 phase near the steel surface and a FeAl3 phase which penetrates toward the weld metal. Thus it is clear that

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Fig. 7. Microindentation hardness test results of the joints made using different heat inputs.

distinguished on a high-magnification SEM micrograph (Fig. 6). EDX analysis results show that such dendriteshaped crystals of an Al-rich -solid solution containing residual zinc routinely formed at this location. 3.2. Hardness measurements Hardness testing results also confirm the presence of a hard intermetallic compound layer. The hardness of the interface layer is much higher than that of the base metal and the weld metal and is found to vary for the corresponding intermetallic compound phases. For the high heat input weld (Sample B) the hardness is much higher, Fig. 7.

Fig. 5. SEM micrograph of interface between steel and weld metal: (a) Sample A; (b) Sample B.

the intermetallic compound layer that forms is closely related to the heat input during the welding process. With regard to the special zone designated by white arrows in Fig. 3, dendritic-appearing structures can be

Fig. 6. Dendrite crystal structure at the toe of the weldment (Sample B).

Fig. 8. The location where the fracture occurred during tensile testing (designated by white arrows): (a) Sample A; (b) Sample B.

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3.3. Tensile test results The tensile tests were performed to provide a qualitative measure of the joint strength and behavior. These results show that the bond strength is excellent, with the fractures occurring in the HAZ of the Al even when the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer was greater than 40 m, Fig. 8. From a general viewpoint, the thickness of the intermetallic compound layer should be controlled to less than 10 m in order to obtain a sound joint. This implies that the joint made with higher heat input should have a lower intrinsic strength than the other because of the thicker brittle intermetallic compound layer. However, the intrinsic strength of the joints cannot be determined when the fracture occurs in the HAZ of the pure Al. Nevertheless, according to the thickness of the compound layer, we can presume that the intrinsic strength of the joints should be decreased when increasing the welding heat input. 4. Conclusions Based on the experimental results and discussions, conclusions are drawn as follows 1) Dissimilar metal joining of Al to zinc-coated steel sheet without cracking is possible by means of a modified metal inert gas (CMT) weldingbrazing process in a lap joint. 2) FeAl intermetallic compound phases were formed at the interface between the steel and the weld metal. The thickness and the composition of the intermetallic compound layer varied with weld heat input. 3) Despite the formation of the intermetallic compound phases, the interface between steel and weld metal is not the weakest location of the joints. Tensile tests of the joints caused fractured in the Al HAZ, even when the intermetallic compound layer thickness exceeded 40 m.

Acknowledgements The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation under Grant No. 50325517 for this work. References
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