Dissimilar material weld joint formed by joining iron type material and aluminum type material, and weld joining method

• US 7,700,198 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2005
• Issued: 04/20/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Klaus Schmidt
• Original Assignee: Kobe Steel Limited
• Inventors: Murai, Yasuo, Nakagawa, Tomokazu, Takeda, Hiroyuki, Takeda, Mikako, Kinefuchi, Masao, Matsumoto, Katsushi, Fukumoto, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): McNeil; Jennifer
• Assistant Examiner(s): Krupicka; Adam C
• Application Number:
  US11/147,241
• Publication Number:
  US 20050274776A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,777 Days
• Field of Search: 428/653
• US Class Current: 428/653
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/18 Dissimilar materials
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/20 Ferrous alloys and aluminium or alloys thereof
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 2103/50 Inorganic material, e.g. metals, not provided for in B23K2103/02 – B23K2103/26
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/32 taking account of the properties of the material involved
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 26/323 involving parts made of dissimilar metallic material
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 33/004 Filling of continuous seams
• CPC Class Codes: B23K 9/232 of different metals
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/12347 Plural layers discontinuously bonded [e.g., spot-weld, mechanical fastener, etc.]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 428/12757 Fe

Abstract

Disclosed are: a dissimilar material weld joint being formed by joining an iron type material and an aluminum type material and having not only a high strength but also an excellent ductility; and a weld joining method allowing such a joint to be stably produced. A dissimilar material weld joint 1 formed by joining an iron type material 2 and an aluminum type material 3, wherein: voids 4a are formed beforehand on the side of said iron type material 2 at a predetermined interval along a weld line 6; both said iron type and aluminum type materials are weld joined so that said voids 4a are filled with molten aluminum 7; and the minimum value of the ratio (L-Al)/(L-Fe) of the length (L-Al) of an aluminum type welding material 10 with which said voids 4a are filled to the length (L-Fe) of said iron type material 2 adjacent to said voids 4a filled with said aluminum type welding material 10 along said weld line 6 on the section containing said weld line 6 is in the range from 0.5 to 7, both the lengths (L-Al) and (L-Fe) being the lengths per 100 mm in length of the weld line 6 formed after welding.

Claims

1. A dissimilar material weld joint formed by joining an iron based material and an aluminum based material, wherein a surface of the iron based material engages a surface of the aluminum based material, the welding joint comprising:

voids formed in said iron based material at a predetermined interval along a weld line, said voids extending from the surface of the iron based material that engages the surface of the aluminum based material to an opposite surface of the iron based material;

a bead comprising an aluminum welding material weld joining said iron based and aluminum based materials, said bead having a predetermined length greater than said predetermined interval in the direction of the weld line, said bead being applied onto said surface of the aluminum based material and onto said opposite surface of the iron based material extending continuously over at least two of said voids; and

aluminum welding material filling said at least two of said voids;

wherein the minimum value of a ratio (L-Al)/(L-Fe) over the predetermined length of said bead in direction of the weld line is in the range from 0.5 to 7,

where (L-Al) is the length of said aluminum welding material within said voids are filled, along said weld line;

(L-Fe) is the length of said iron based material adjacent to the filled voids, along said weld line.

2. The dissimilar material weld joint according to claim 1, wherein:

a lower end portion of the aluminum welding material filling said voids in the molten state is joined to the surface of said aluminum based material exposed at said voids, and the upper end portion thereof in the molten state is joined to said bead which is applied onto the opposite surface of said iron based material; and

when the thickness of said aluminum based material is defined as Ta, the maximum melt-in depth to which said weld melts in said surface layer of said aluminum based material as D, the average thickness of said weld bead on said weld line as Tb, and the circle-equivalent radius of said voids as R, the value D/Ta is not less than 0.10 and the value Tb/R is not less than 0.50.

3. The dissimilar material weld joint according to claim 1, wherein said voids have a round shape or an elliptic shape.

4. The dissimilar material weld joint according to claim 1, wherein:

said iron based material is a hot-dip galvanized steel sheet; and

said aluminum welding material contains Mg by 2.0 to 6.0 mass %.

5. The dissimilar material weld joint according to claim 1, made by sequential steps comprising:

forming said voids on said iron based material at the predetermined interval along the weld line; and

joining said iron based material placed over said aluminum based material by arc welding with an aluminum welding wire to form the bead while filling said voids with the molten aluminum welding material.

6. The weld joint according to claim 5, wherein, when the quantity of heat input Q (kj/cm) in arc welding is defined by the following expression and the thickness of said aluminum based material is defined as Ta (mm), welding is applied so as to satisfy the expression Ta/3.5≦

Q≦

Ta/1.4;

in the case of an AC power source,

Q(kj/cm)=60 (s./min.)×

Welding current (A)×

Welding voltage (V)/Welding speed (cm/min.)/1,000.

7. The weld joint according to claim 5, wherein, when the quantity of heat input Q (kj/cm) in arc welding is defined by the following expression and the thickness of said aluminum based material is defined as Ta (mm), welding is applied so as to satisfy the expression Ta/1.5≦

Q≦

Ta/0.7;

in the case of an DC power source,

Q(kj/cm)=60 (s./min.)×

Welding current (A)×

Welding voltage (V)/Welding speed (cm/min.)/1,000.

8. The weld joint according to claim 5, wherein:

said iron based material is a hot-dip galvanized steel sheet; and

said aluminum welding wire contains Mg by 2.0 to 6.0 mass %.