Effects of Annealing Temperature on Interface Properties for Al/Mild Steel Clad Materials

Abstract

For heat exchanger applications, 2-ply clad materials were fabricated by rolling of aluminum (Al) and mild steel sheets. Effects of annealing temperature on interface properties, especially on inter-layer formation and softening of strain hardened mild-steel, for Al/mild steel clad materials, were investigated. To obtain optimum annealing conditions for the Al/mild steel clad materials, annealing temperature was varied from room temperature to 600 o C. At the annealing temperature about 450 o C, an inter-layer was formed in an island-shape at the interface of the Al/mild steel clad materials; this island expanded along the interface at higher temperature. By analyzing the X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks and the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) results, it was determined that the exact chemical stoichiometry for the inter-layer was that of Fe 2 Al 5 . In some samples, an X-layer was formed between the Al and the inter-layer of Fe 2 Al 5 at high annealing temperature of around 550 o C. The existence of an X-layer enhanced the growth of the inter-layer, which resulted in the delamination of the Al/mildsteel clad materials. Hardness tests were also performed to examine the influence of the annealing temperature on the cold deformability, which is a very important property for the deep drawing process of clad materials. The hardness value of mild steel gradually decreased with increasing annealing temperature. Especially, the value of hardness sharply decreased in the temperature range between 525 o C and 550 o C. From these results, we can conclude that the optimum annealing temperature is around 550 o C under condition of there being no X-layer creation.