Joint strength and pipe prerequisite condition for welding of dissimilar thin pipe joint between 5052 Al alloy and 304 stainless steel fabricated by friction welding

Abstract

Joint strength of dissimilar thin pipe friction welded joints between 5052 Al alloy (A5052) and 304 stainless steel (SUS304) was investigated. Pipes had the outer diameter of 16 mm and the inner diameter of 12 mm, and those were welded with a friction speed of 27.5 s−1, a friction pressure of 30 MPa, and a friction time of 1.2 s. When joints were made with as-received pipes, the joint strength at a forge pressure of 60 MPa had approximately 64% in the tensile strength of the A5052 base metal although that had scattering. Almost all joints fractured between the weld interface and the A5052 side though some joints fractured in the A5052 side. Thus, the fractured portion of joints had scattering at the same friction welding condition. On the other hand, the joint strength at a forge pressure of 50 MPa had approximately 77% in the tensile strength of the A5052 base metal when joints were made by pipes with the machined of the inner and outer diameter parts from solid bars. In addition, all joints fractured from the A5052 side. That is, to obtain good joint such as the fracture in the A5052 side without scattering of the fractured portion of joints, the joint should be made without the affected layer on the pipe surface at the manufacturing of itself.

Keywords

• friction welding
• dissimilar thin pipe joint
• friction welding condition
• 5052 al alloy
• stainless steel
• affected layer on pipe surface