Inertia-friction welding of particulate-reinforced aluminum matrix composites
Aluminum metal-matrix composites (Al-MMC) are rapidly becoming materials of choice for many aerospace, automotive, recreational sports, and microelectronic applications. The attractive features of these materials include high specific strength and stiffness, a low coefficient of thermal expansion and enhanced wear characteristics relative to monolithic aluminum alloys. The effective engineering application of Al-MMC will commonly require their joining beth to themselves, to dissimilar Al-MMC, and to monolithic aluminum alloys. In the present work, dissimilar-alloy inertia-friction welds were produced between a 6061-T6 Al-MMC tube reinforced with l0 v/o Al{sub x}O{sub 3} particles (W6A.l0A-T6) and a modified A356 case MMC bar reinforced with 20 v/o SiC particles (F3S.20S), or a monolithic 6061-T6511 aluminum alloy bar. In Phase I, a fractional-factorial test matrix was statistically designed and performed to evaluate the effects of flywheel speed and axial pressure on the weld integrity, microstructure, hardness, tensile and torsion strengths and fracture behavior. In Phase 2, the effects of pre-weld machining of the solid bar on weld alignment and mechanical properties were evaluated. inertia-friction welding was shown to be effective for the joining of alumina particulate-reinforced composites to monolithic aluminum and to SiC-particulate reinforced aluminum. High-integrity joints exhibiting a defect-free joint interface with varying degrees of base alloy intermixing were produced at optimum parameter settings. Tensile and torsional strength joint efficiencies for the alumina-particulate MMC to monolithic aluminum alloy welds exceeded 80% and 75%, respectively, with tensile strength maximized with high axial pressure and flywheel speed, and torsional strength maximized at both medium and high levels of flywheel speed and axial pressure.
- OSTI ID:
- 115438
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9404233--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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