Microstructure and porosity analysis in ultrasonic assisted TIG welding of 2014 aluminum alloy

The ultrasonic assisted tungsten inert gas (U-TIG)welding is a newly developed arc welding method,which is aimed at improving the weld quality and efficiency.TIG welding and U-TIG welding of 2014 aluminum alloy with 5 mm thickness were experimentally carried out in this paper.The microstructure and porosity of welded joints were analyzed.Compared with conventional TIG welding,the columnar crystals are changed into equiaxed crystals at the centre of weld zone and the grain of fusion zone in U-TIG welding is refined and equiaxed.The porosities of joint decrease after the ultrasonic was applied on the arc.The mechanism of crystal grain refiaement is discussed in this paper and the reasons of porosity decrease in U-TIG welded joint may be due to the effect of acoustic streaming and cavitation,which need further research.