Joining of aluminium alloy and galvanized steel sheets multimaterial assembly using a gas metal arc based process

Abstract

Fast responsive control of the heat input can minimize thermal distortion and formation of brittle intermetallic phases during gas metal arc-based joining of steel and aluminium multi-material assembly. A detailed experimental investigation and computer-based process modeling are reported here on gas metal arc based joining of automotive aluminium alloy sheets and galvanized steel sheets. The thermal cycles near the actual joint interface and the thermal distortion of the joint assembly are estimated using the computer-based model and validated with the corresponding experimentally measured results. The computed thermal cycles are utilized further to examine the experimentally measured progressive growth of the phase layer and the susceptibility of the brittle intermetallic compounds along the joint interface. Overall, the results show that a precise control of heat input can provide defect-free and dimensionally consistent joint in gas metal arc joining of aluminium to galvanized steel sheets at moderate joining speeds.