Welding of Aluminum

david-smith · 05-09-2012, 08:02 PM

Welding of Aluminum

Preface
Engineering is not an exact science and, of the many disciplines within engineering,
welding is probably one of the most inexact – rather more of an
art than a science. Much of the decision-making is based on experience and
a ‘gut feel’ for what is or is not acceptable. When the difficulties of shop
floor or site control are taken into account and the occasional vagaries of
the welder and the sometimes inadequate knowledge of supervisory staff
are added, the problems of the practising shop floor engineer can appear
overwhelming. I hope that some of this uncertainty can be dispelled in this
book, which is aimed at those engineers with little or no knowledge of
metallurgy and perhaps only the briefest acquaintance with the welding
processes. It does not purport to be a metallurgical or processes textbook
and I make no apology for this. Having lectured fairly extensively on
welding technology, I have come to realise that most engineers think of
metals as being composed of a large number of small billiard balls held
together by some form of glue. I have attempted to describe the metallurgical
aspects of the aluminium alloys in these terms. I have therefore kept
the contents descriptive and qualitative and have avoided the use of
mathematical expressions to describe the effects of welding.
The book provides a basic understanding of the metallurgical principles
involved in how alloys achieve their strength and how welding can affect
these properties. I have included sections on parent metal storage and preparation
prior to welding and have also described the more frequently encountered
processes. There are recommendations on welding parameters that
may be used as a starting point for the development of a viable welding procedure.
Also included are what I hope will be useful hints and tips to avoid
some of the pitfalls of welding these sometimes problematic materials.
I would like to thank my colleagues at TWI, particularly Bob Spiller,
Derek Patten and Mike Gittos, for their help and encouragement during
the writing of this book – encouragement that mostly took the form of
‘Haven’t you finished it yet?’.Well, here it is. Any errors, inaccuracies or
omissions are mine and mine alone.
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Contents:
1 Introduction to the welding of aluminium 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Characteristics of aluminium 4
1.3 Product forms 6
1.4 Welding: a few definitions 6
2 Welding metallurgy 10
2.1 Introduction 10
2.2 Strengthening mechanisms 10
2.3 Aluminium weldability problems 18
2.4 Strength loss due to welding 31
3 Material standards, designations and alloys 35
3.1 Designation criteria 35
3.2 Alloying elements 35
3.3 CEN designation system 36
3.4 Specific alloy metallurgy 40
3.5 Filler metal selection 46
4 Preparation for welding 51
4.1 Introduction 51
4.2 Storage and handling 51
4.3 Plasma-arc cutting 52
4.4 Laser beam cutting 58
4.5 Water jet cutting 63
4.6 Mechanical cutting 64
4.7 Cleaning and degreasing 66
v5 Welding design 69
5.1 Introduction 69
5.2 Access for welding 70
5.3 Welding speed 71
5.4 Welding position 72
5.5 Edge preparation and joint design 72
5.6 Distortion 84
5.7 Rectification of distortion 88
5.8 Fatigue strength of welded joints 89
6 TIG welding 97
6.1 Introduction 97
6.2 Process principles 97
6.3 Mechanised/automatic welding 114
6.4 TIG spot and plug welding 115
7 MIG welding 116
7.1 Introduction 116
7.2 Process principles 116
7.3 Welding consumables 130
7.4 Welding procedures and techniques 135
7.5 Mechanised and robotic welding 141
7.6 Mechanised electro-gas welding 143
7.7 MIG spot welding 144
8 Other welding processes 147
8.1 Introduction 147
8.2 Plasma-arc welding 147
8.3 Laser welding 150
8.4 Electron beam welding 155
8.5 Friction welding 160
9 Resistance welding processes 166
9.1 Introduction 166
9.2 Power sources 167
9.3 Surface condition and preparation 169
9.4 Spot welding 171
9.5 Seam welding 175
9.6 Flash butt welding 176
10 Welding procedure and welder approval 181
10.1 Introduction 181
10.2 Welding procedures 181
10.3 Welder approval 191
11 Weld defects and quality control 199
11.1 Introduction 199
11.2 Defects in arc welding 199
11.3 Non-destructive testing methods 205
Appendix A British and ISO standards related to
welding and aluminium 216
Appendix B Physical, mechanical and chemical
properties at 20°C 226
Appendix C Principal alloy designations: cast products 227
Appendix D Alloy designations: wrought products 228
Bibliography 230
Index 235

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r3be1 · 08-20-2014, 05:32 PM

new links for this material (old links gone)

direct link

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other lnik

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