Characteristics of arc in variable polarity plasma arc welding of aluminum alloy

A double invert variable polarity plasma arc （VPPA） power source based on 16-bit MCU applied for aluminum alloys was developed. Mechanics, electrical and the produced heat mechanism of VPPAW arc were tested and analyzed. Results indicate that during the VPPA welding procedure of aluminum alloy, the arc of electrode negative （EN） has more effect on force, whereas the arc of electrode positive （ EP ） has more effect on heat. It should be noted that keeping the balance of the force and heat is the critical element of VPPAW. This power source had been successfully used to weld aluminum alloy with a 15 mm thickness in vertical welding. The conclusions are applicable to the variable polarity plasma arc welding technique used in the aerospace industry.     

Research for the method of image acquisition of the molten pool in the TIG welding of aluminum alloy

Obtaining the image of molten pool aluminum alloy‘ s tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding becomes a challenging problem in the welding field. In this paper, a bran-new optical sensor based analyzing the light spectrum was designed, and the clear image of the molten pool during the aluminum alloy‘ s welding using the common industrial CCD camera was obtained. And with the new algorithm provided by myself, the desirable characteristic parameters of the molten pool of aluminum alloy‘ s welding were obtained, and it provides a good base for advanced monitor welding quality.     

Comparative Analysis on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties between EBW and TANDEM Welding of 7A52 Aluminum Alloy Joint

The plates with 20mm thickness of 7A52 aluminum alloy were welded by electron beam welding and TANDEM welding with ER5356 filler,respectively.The microstructure and mechanical properties of the joints were investigated.The results showed that the microstructure of EBW metal was finer and tighter than TANDEM welding.The heat-affected zone of the EBW joint was narrower,its hardness was higher and the tensile strength improved obviously compared to TANDEM welding.Excellent quality control of the EBW joint was made without abnormal porosity,inclusions and micro-cracks.Therefore,the EBW joint of 7A52 aluminum alloy showed excellent performance.     

Inhibit the Porosity with Electron Beam Scanning Method in Welding LD10 Aluminum Alloy

LD10 aluminum alloy is becoming widely used in aeronautics and astronautics industries for the advantages of high specific strength and good mechanical property.Aluminum alloy is an active metal with low melting point and boiling point.The porosity is apt to occur in the processing of electron beam welding.In this article,the author investigated the influence of electron beam scanning welding parameters (scanning figure,scanning frequency,focus,and welding speed) on porosity.10 mm thick LD10 aluminum alloy were welded and then tested by X-ray inspection.The experiment results indicated that rational parameters would reduce the occurrence opportunity of porosity.Using the parameters of circle scanning,high scanning frequency,focus-out,and smaller welding speed,the porosity can be significantly reduced.     

Dynamic process of angular distortion between aluminum and titanium alloys with TIG welding

The dynamic process of welding angular distortion in the overlaying welding of 5A12 aluminum alloy and BT20 titanium alloy was investigated. Information of dynamic distortion was got via self-made welding dynamic measuring system. Research results show that the characteristics of dynamic distortions at various positions of the plate edge parallel to the weld of 5A12 and BT20 alloy are different. Comparison between 5A12 and BT20 alloy shows that transverse shrinkage and downward longitudinal bending are main factors influencing the dynamic angular distortion processes of 5A12 and BT20 alloy under welding heat input of 0.32 kJ/mm. The angular distortion of 5A12 alloy is completely inversed with welding heat input increasing to 0.4 kJ/mm, and the position of weld center and buckling distortion become the primary factors.     

Weldability evaluation and tensile strength estimation model for aluminum alloy lap joint welding using hybrid system with laser and scanner head

Aluminum welding using a hybrid system with a laser and scanner welding head was performed under various welding conditions to verify the feasibility of applying an aluminum alloy to a car body.The experimental material was 5J32 aluminum alloy,and the laser power,welding speed,and laser incidence angle were used as the control variables.The weld bead shape and the tensile shear strength were evaluated in order to understand the aluminum lap joint weld characteristics.Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to identify the effect of the process variables on the tensile shear strength.Tensile strength estimation models using three different regression models were also suggested.The input variables were the laser power,welding speed,and laser incidence angle,and the output was the tensile shear strength.Among the models,the second-order polynomial estimation model had the best estimation performance,and the average error rate of this model was 0.058.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of friction stir welded thin sheets of 2024-T4 aluminum alloy

Friction stir welding （FSW） is a new and promising welding processing that can produce low-cost and high-quality joints of aluminum alloys. 1 mm thick sheets of 2024-T4 aluminum alloys which are always used as building and decorating materials were welded by FSW. The microstructure and mechanical properties of fiiction stir welded 1 mm thick sheets of 2024-T4 aluminum alloy were studied. It was found that the thinner the 2024 aluminum alloy, the larger the FSW technological parameters field. The grains size of weld nugget zone （WNZ） is approximately 10 times smaller than that of the parent material, but the second phase in the material is not refined apparently in the welding. The FS welded joints have about 40% higher yield strength than the parent material, but the elongation of FS welded joints is under about 50% of the parent material. The electron backscattered diffraction （EBSD） results show that there are much more low angle boundaries （LAB） in WNZ than that in parent material, which indicates that FSW causes a number of sub-grain structures in WNZ, and this is also the reason of the increase of yield strength and Vickers hardness of the welded joint.     

Microstructures and properties analysis of dissimilar metal joint in the friction stir welded copper to aluminum alloy

This paper mainly concentrated on the feasibility of friction stir welding of dissimilar metal of aluminum alloy to copper （I2） and a preliminary analysis of welding parameters influencing on the microstructures and properties of joint was carried out. The results indicated that the thickness of workpiece played an important role in the welding parameters which could succeed in the friction stir welding of dissimilar metal of copper to aluminum alloy, and the parameters were proved to be a narrow choice. The interfacial region between copper and aluminum in the dissimilar joint was not uniformly mixed, constituted with part of incomplete mixing zone, complete mixing zone, dispersion zone and the most region＇ s boundary was obvious. Meantime a kind banded structure with inhomogeneous width was formed. The intermetallic compounds generated during friction stir welding in the interfacial region were mainly CugAl4, Al2Cu etc, and their hardness was higher than oihers.     

Application and development trend of new welding technologies in railway vehicles manufacturing industry

This paper introduces the application of new automatic welding technologies in railway vehicles manufacturing industry, and presents the state of art of advanced friction stir welding technology, semi-penetration laser welding technology and laser-arc hybrid welding technology in manufacturing aluminum alloy body shell, stainless steel body shell and bogie. This paper also analyzes the application and development trend of three welding technologies in the future.     

Numerical simulation of deep cryogenic treatment electrode tip temperature for spot welding aluminum alloy

Deep cryogenic treatment technology of electrodes is put forward to improve electrode life of resistance spot welding of aluminum alloy LF2.Deep cryogenic treatment makes electrode life for spot welding aluminum alloy improve.The specific resistivity of the deep cryogenic treatment electrodes is tested and experimental results show that specific resistivity is decreased sharply.The temperature field and the influence of deep cryogenic treatment on the electrode tip temperature during spot welding aluminium alloy is studied by numerical simulation method with the software ANSYS.The axisymmetric finite element model of mechanical,thermal and electrical coupled analysis of spot welding process is developed.The numerical simulation results show that the influence of deep cryogenic treatment on electrode tip temperature is very large.     

Friction stir welding of AZ31 magnesium alloy

Friction stir welding (FSW) is an new solid-phase joining technology which has more advantages over fusion welding methods in welding of aluminum and other non-ferrous metals. The effects of welding parameters on mechanical properties and microstructure during friction stir welding of AZ31 magnesium alloy were studied in this paper. Microstructures and mechanical properties of the joints were investigated by means of optical microscopy, scanning electric microscopy ( SEM ) , micro-hardness analysis, and tensile test. Experimental results show that the magnesium alloy can be successfully welded by FSW method, and the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of FSW joint reaches up to 90 percent of base metal. The microstructures of welded joints exhibit the variation from dynamically recrystallized fine grains to greatly deformed grains. Hardness in nugget zone was found lower than the base metal but not too obvious.     

Study of the Laser-MIG Hybrid Welded Al-Mg Alloy

The technology of laser-MIG hybrid welding is hotspot in welding researched field at present.It can improve the velocity of the welding,reduce the distortion of the welding,optimize the structure of the welding joint and etc..The 5052 aluminum alloy of the 10mm thick was welded by the laser-MIG hybrid welding.The structure,the alloy elements profile and the mechanical property of the welded joint are researched by the optical microscope,SEM,sclerometer and etc..The results showed:The medium thick Al alloy was welded in high speed by the laser-MIG hybrid welding.The appearance of the welding joint is well.The weld joint and the weld interface are fine.The intenerate region in the welding joint is small.The tensile strength in welding joint has achieved 94.4% of that in base metal.     

UPA based 3D visualization of discontinuities in great thickness EBW seam 1

Electron beam welding (EBW) is a fusion welding process in which a beam of high-velocity electrons is applied to two materials to be joined.It is a complex high-temperature metallurgical process,and the quality of welding may deteriorate because of defects caused by improper welding parameters,especially in the EBW of thickened aluminum alloy plate.Ultrasonic phased array(UPA) technology has been applied more widely in the field of nondestructive testing because of its ability of effectively controlling the shape and direction of the emitted ultrasonic beam.In present research,a specimen with EBW seam on thickened aluminum plate was tested with a linear array ultrasonic phased array probe,and a large number of B-scan images of the weld were acquired by electronic scanning in probe combined with the mechanical scanning of the probe along the weld direction.This large number of B-scan images were stacked to construct the volume data,with which the 3D image of the weld discontinuities were reconstructed,and the 3D visualization was realized.More details about weld discontinuities' spatial distribution and orientation were revealed,and this approach also made the results of non-destructive ultrasonic testing more easily to understand.     

Influence of tool plunge depth and welding distance on friction stir lap welding of AA5454-O aluminum alloy plates with different thicknesses

AA5454-O aluminum alloy plates with thicknesses of 1.4 and 1.0 mm were friction-stir-lap-welded (FSLWed).The influences of the tool plunge depth and welding distance on surface appearance,macrostructure and mechanical properties of the FSLWed plates were experimentally investigated.The tensile shear load of the FSLWed plates was compared with that of the adhesive-bonded plates.Defect-free FSLWed zones were successfully obtained in all the tool plunge depths and the welding distances.The FSLWed zones exhibited the relatively smooth surface morphologies.Under all the FSLWed conditions,the FSLWed zone exhibited higher average hardness than the base metal.In addition,the upper plate exhibited a higher average hardness than the lower plate,although there was no special tendency in spite of the change in the tool plunge depth and the welding distance.The maximum tensile shear load of the FSLWed plates was much higher than that of the adhesive-bonded aluminum alloy plate.Especially,under the FSLW condition of the plunge depth of 1.8 mm and the welding distance of 40 mm,the tensile shear load of the FSLWed plate reached a level about 41% greater than that of the adhesive-bonded aluminum alloy plate.In addition,the maximum tensile shear load of the FSLWed plate was increased with the increase of the welding distance.     

Self-adjusting dynamic characteristics of pulsed MIG welding for aluminum alloys

Pulsed MIG welding is suitable for aluminum alloys welding, because spray transfer and excellent profile can be arrived during whole welding current range, and the energy of droplet can be controlled to overcome losing of alloy elements with lower melting and steam point by controlling pulse current and pulse time. Because of the special physic properties of aluminum alloys, there are different requirements for pulsed MIG welding between starting arc short circuit and drop transfer short circuit, pulse period and base period. In order to satisfy the need of aluminum alloys MIG welding, self-adjusting dynamic characteristics are designed to output different dynamic characteristics in different welding startes. The self-adjusting dynamic characteristics of pulsed MIG welding are achieved through a short circuit controller and a dynamic electronic inductor. The welding machine(AL-MIG 350) with self-adjusting dynamic characteristics has a high rate of successfully starting arc up to 96%, and the short circuit time during transfer is less than 1ms, in the mean time, the arc is stiffness, spatter is low and weld appearance is good.     

Comparison of 2A12 aluminium alloy joint by ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding and friction stir welding

Ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding （UAFSW） is a recent modification of conventional friction stir welding, which adds ultrasonic energy directly into the friction stir welding area by the pin. In this study, 2A12 aluminum alloy was welded by this process and conventional, respectively. The tensile tests, microstructure and fracture surface of FSW joint and UAFSW joint were analyzed. The research results show that the surface forming texture of ultrasonic assisted friction stir welding joint, compared with conventional, is finer and more uniform, showing metallic matte color. The grains are much finer in weld nugget zone, thermo-mechanically affected zone and heat-affected zone; S-phase particles size is much smaller and distribution is more homogeneous in the matrix. The tensile strength of UAFSW joint is 94. 13% of base metal, and the elongation is 11.77%. The tensile strength of FSW joint is 83.15% of base metal, and the elongation is 8.81%. The tests results reveal that ultrasonic vibration can improve the tensile strength and the elongation of welded joints.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF CONTROLLING IN TITANIUM ALLOY SHEETS WELDING RESIDUAL STRESS BY TRAILING PEENING

It is a promising and new technology to apply welding with trailing peening to control welding stress and distortion of titanium alloy. Numerical simulation of conventional welding and welding with trailing peening of the titanium alloy sheet is carried out, using nonlinear finite element theory and the engineering analysis software MARC. The result shows that welding with trailing peening technology reduces longitudinal residual stress in welding joint effectively, and it is more effective to reduce residual stress to peen the weld than to peen the weld toe. It is a effective result that other technolooy and method used in welding can never achieved.     

Principles and application of RES welding technology

Friction element welding technology is rich of flow drill screws combined with friction welding technology and is developed for the hot-forming steel plate and aluminum alloy welding of car body-in-white. In this paper, the principle of RES welding technology, equipment, technical characteristics, application condition and welding parameters are analyzed systematically. Moreover, the changing laws of welding parameters and welded joint quality control standards are described, which provides the necessary technical support for safety and light-weight car body design requirements. This study has high practical application value, and enriches the automobile body joining technology.     

Physical simulation of alloying between copper and aluminum on electrode tip for resistance spot welding of 5A02 aluminum alloy

The application of aluminum alloy in the automotive and aviation fields is impeded by the wear and life of electrode for resistance spot welding (RSW). The alloying interaction between the copper elect...     

Numerical analysis of temperature profile and weld dimensions in laser ＋ GMAW hybrid welding of aluminum alloy T-joint

The temperature fields in the transient state and weld dimensions in laser ＋ gas metal arc welding （GMAW） hybrid welding of aluminum alloy T-joint for different welding conditions were calculated using the developed heat source model, and the effect of welding speed on them was analyzed. The results show that the temperature field for the first weld pass only shows the feature of GMAW and the one for the second weld pass has the characteristics of both laser welding and GMAW. Welding speed can affect greatly weld dimensions and temperature distribution. When welding speed reaches 3.5 m/min, the fusion zones of two weld passes are separated and the maximum peak temperature of thermal cycle on the workpiece surface decreases largely.