Ain Shams Engineering Journal (Feb 2024)
Bonding evolution of composites fabricated via electrically assisted press bonding
Abstract
Reducing fuel consumption and increasing efficiency is one of the solutions that humanity has adopted to reduce costs caused by fuel consumption in all industries, including the transportation industry. An effective solution to improve practical fuel consumption is to reduce weight. In principle, press bonding (PB), which is done using a press and is a solid-state welding process, can create a bond between parts with different materials and produce materials with lighter weight and more strength. But it should also be noted that the plasticity of some materials is very low, and these materials are incapable of machinability. Electrical assistance is a potential solution that can solve this problem by increasing the flow tension and reducing the forming force. In this study, aluminum alloy 1060 bars were electrically press bonded at electricity current levels 0 Å up to 300 Å. The effect of pressing parameters on the bonding strength, such as amount of electricity current level and plastic strain, was investigated using a peeling test. Results show that more adhesive among the layers (bonding strength) was attained by growing current and reducing thickness. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was investigated the peeling surface of samples versus the different thickness reduction ratios and electric currents. The Joule heating effect in the electrically-assisted in press bonding (EAPB) process decreases the forming strength of bars and increases the bond strength of bonded bars by about three times. Using SEM, the peeling surface of samples and the fracture surface around the interface after the tensile test were studied to investigate the bonding quality.