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The microstructure and lap-shear behaviors of friction stir linear welded wrought Al alloy AA6022-T4 to cast Mg alloy AM60B joints were examined. A process window was developed to initially identify the potential process conditions. Multitudes of welds were produced by varying the tool rotation rate and tool traverse speed. Welds produced at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm) tool rotation rate and either 50 mm/min or 75 mm/min tool traverse speed displayed the highest quasi-static failure load of ~3.3 kN per 30 mm wide lap-shear specimens. Analysis of cross sections of untested coupons indicated that the welds made at these optimum welding parameters had negligible microvoids and displayed a favorable weld geometry for the cold lap and hook features at the faying surface, compared to welds produced using other process parameters. Cross sections of the tested coupons indicated that the dominant crack initiated on the advancing side and progressed through the weld nugget, which consists of intermetallic

In die-casting processes, the high cooling rates and pressures affect the alloy solidification and deformation behavior, and thereby impact the final mechanical properties of cast components. In this study, isothermal semi-solid compression and subsequent cooling of aluminum die-cast alloy specimens were characterized using fast synchrotron tomography. This enabled the investigation and quantification of gas and shrinkage porosity evolution during deformation and solidification. The analysis of the 4D images (3D plus time) revealed two distinct mechanisms by which porosity formed; (i) deformation-induced growth due to the enrichment of local hydrogen content by the advective hydrogen transport, as well as a pressure drop in the dilatant shear bands, and (ii) diffusion-controlled growth during the solidification. The rates of pore growth were quantified throughout the process, and a Gaussian distribution function was found to represent the variation in the pore growth rate in both regimes. Using a onedimensional diffusion model for hydrogen pore growth, the hydrogen flux required for driving pore growth during these regimes was estimated, providing a new insight into the role of advective transport associated with the deformation in the mushy region.

A comprehensive study of fatigue life and damage mechanisms of friction stir linear welded dissimilar aluminum-to-magnesium alloys in lap-shear configuration is presented. The overlap linear welds were created by welding AA6022 aluminum alloy to AM60B magnesium alloy. The test results showed significant scatter in the fatigue life and the corresponding fracture modes. Two distinct modes of failure were observed for the lap-shear specimens. In one of the failure modes observed, fracture occurred when the dominant fatigue crack propagated into either the magnesium or aluminum sheet in a kink-crack formation. In addition, fretting debris was found at locations of crack initiation for this fracture mode. In the other observed mode of failure, fracture occurred by interfacial weld separation, where fractography analysis suggests that the fatigue cracks initiated at weld defects and then propagated through the brittle intermetallic phase formed during welding.2

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