Experimental investigation on metallurgical and mechanical characteristics of TIG welded AA5052 aluminium alloy using different filler materials

Abstract

A major requirement of the modern automobile and aerospace newlineindustries is weight reduction and improved efficiency. Weight reduction of newlineautomobiles is one of the promising approaches for increasing fuel economy, newlineas studies show that with a weight reduction of 10%, the fuel economy newlineimproves by 6 8%. It is reported that aluminium (Al) is found to be a better newlinealternative to steel in various applications. Al-series alloys such as 5xxx, 6xxx newlineand 7xxx, etc. are available, which may differ from each other based on their newlinealloying elements. Welding of Al is widely employed in the aerospace, newlineautomotive and shipbuilding industries. Among the various welding newlineprocesses, Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding plays a major role in the newlinewelding of Al alloys, titanium (Ti) and Stainless Steel (SS), which are newlinedifficult to weld by other welding processes. Hot cracking is one of the newlinecommon problems faced during welding of Al alloys. Hot cracking takes newlineplace at high temperatures and mainly depends on alloy system formation. In newlinegeneral, hot cracking is classified into solidification cracking occurring in the newlineFusion Zone (FZ) and liquation cracking occurring in the Partially Melted newlineZone (PMZ). Hot cracking resistance is influenced by the welding process, newlinewelding process parameters and weld metallurgy. newlineMost of the researchers have investigated the weldability of Al alloys newlinein various welding processes. Based on the literature survey, it is found that newlinethe TIG welding process is the most suitable welding process for thin newlinematerials. In this research work, the 5xxx series of Al alloys were selected as newlinea base material, since they are widely used for automotive and aerospace newlinestructures due to their good extrudability, weldability and excellent corrosion newlineresistance. The weldability of these alloys using the TIG welding process is newlinefacing hot cracking and weld defects due to the selection of improper weld newlineprocess parameters. Hence, it is very necessary to overcome these problems to newlineattain better weld quality joints. newline